He takes his shot, and the arrow whizzes through the air, missing the bullseye by just a few centimetres.
It’s an impressive feat, particularly since Khairol drew his bow with his mouth.
The 35-year-old athlete lost the use of his left arm in a motorcycle accident when he was about 18 years old. Despite this, Khairol has risen above his circumstances, and found new purpose in life through the sport of archery.
Today, he is one of Malaysia’s few mouth archers. He has even represented the state of Selangor in various tournaments.
“Archery helps give me confidence. It is a great sport to train your focus and self-motivation. It comes down to always trying until you hit the bullseye, or reach your goal,” Khairol told FMT Lifestyle.
Amazingly, Khairol had no real intention to try his hand at this sport initially. But this changed after he helped a friend start up a local archery centre as a business venture in 2016.
Khairol now operates Archer’s Studio in Desa Pandan with his partners Syafiq and Mohamad Adib. Watching people try their hand at bows and arrows, however, piqued his interest, and soon Khairol was inspired to try the sport for himself.
“Finding a way for me to try archery was challenging. Many people weren’t sure if we could do it, but gave their support and help anyway. We really had to find a way where I could draw the bow using my teeth,” Khairol said.
“Even when we did find a way, it was still difficult. When I started, it was painful. My teeth were strong, but my gums would ache.”
The Kuala Lumpur-born archer persevered, however, and soon, he was able to shoot his bow in a manner that he was satisfied with. Today, Khairol often shoots with a custom-made recurve bow, which features a leather piece where he can place his mouth.
Amazingly, just about three to four months after picking up the sport, Khairol decided to test his skill in a local archery meet in Selangor.
Khairol drew quite a lot of attention there, being the only mouth archer among other able-bodied contestants. While he did not win, the experience made him realise that this was indeed the sport for him.
Since then, he has taken part in various tournaments, including three Malaysian Paralympic Games, and the Thailand Princess Cup Archery Tournament, the biggest indoor archery tournament in Southeast Asia.
Khairol also hopes to participate in this year’s Malaysia Paralympic Games in September.
“Of course, I really need to train hard to be accepted,” he laughed.
Khairol is also slowly transitioning to coaching, and has received various qualifications from local archery organisations.
His indoor archery range currently hosts about 100 students of all ages, and stocks all types of archery equipment. It’s a good place to learn as it’s out of the Malaysian heat, Khairol quipped.
He encouraged everyone, especially people with disabilities, to take up a sport as it was a great way to build confidence.
He said he believed that everyone had a sport they had potential for at some point in their lives while they were still able-bodied. And being disabled did not have to stop them from exploring that sport further.
According to him, mouth archery has taught him valuable lessons about resilience, and the power of persistence.
“Archery, after all, is all about repetition. Even if you fail, it’s okay, just keep trying and trying until you succeed. You will never be perfect, but you will reach your goal,” he concluded.
Follow Archer’s Studio on Facebook.