Breaks, mental toughness may see Javier through

BEIJING – Diarrhea downed archer Mark Javier three days ago, but Filipino doctors here said that should not affect the performance of the Filipino who is going head to head with Doha Asiad bronze medalist Kuo Chen Wei of Taiwan in the first knockout round of the men’s individual championships today at the Olympic Green Archery Field here

Philippine team medical director Alex Pineda said he had administered antibiotics to Javier since he first had the uneasy feeling Sunday but assured the 27-year-old archer from Dumaguete will be fit and ready for today’s round.

“He had acute gastro-enteritis for three to four days. But we have given him rehydration tablets, antibiotics and regulated his food intake,” said Pineda.

Javier made the final practice rounds in the morning and spent the rest of the afternoon in the athletes’ village.

Coached by national archer Jennifer Chan, Javier said he is determined to win over Kuo, member of the Chinese-Taipei national team that placed third in the world championships in Leipzig, Germany last year. He finished second in the individual event and steered the Chinese-Taipei national team to the gold in the team event in this year’s World Cup in Santo Domingo, in the Dominican Republic. Last year, Kuo also finished second in the individual event in the World Cup in Ulsan, Korea.

But Javier, on his firsts Olympic stint, has been showing improvements since he ranked barely 71st in last year’s world championships where Kuo finished 33rd. His ranking after the FITA (International Archery Federation) round three days ago placed him at 36th, barely six rungs below Kuo.

Chan said the change in format – from 18 arrows to only 12 arrows in the knockout rounds – will make the elimination a test of skills and mental toughness.

“Mark is determined. I’m sure that given the breaks, he’ll pull one over the Taiwanese,” said Chan.