SEA Games 2025: S’pore archers Li Yue Long, Tabitha Yeo shoot down historic mixed recurve gold

BANGKOK – The bull’s eye in archery’s recurve events is the size of a grapefruit – 12.2cm in diameter.

First, athletes have to try to hit the target from 70 metres. To do so in 33 deg C heat, gusty winds and a 10-minute delay due to a power outage – all this while 0-2 down – makes the task even more challenging.

In the SEA Games mixed recurve team final on Dec 17, Singapore’s Li Yue Long and Tabitha Yeo had to overcome these unexpected circumstances and immense stress to clinch a 6-2 victory over Malaysia’s Syafiq Busthamin and Ariana Nur Diana.

The duo’s triumph at the Sports Authority of Thailand field was the first for any Singaporean in the event.

A day earlier, they beat Philippines 6-2 in the quarter-finals and Indonesia 5-3 in the last four to progress to the final.

Singapore’s only other medal in the event came in 2013 when Chan Jing Ru and Tan Si Lie won a mixed recurve team silver in Myanmar.

Li, 27, said: “We are definitely honoured and thankful because the wind was really gusty just now and our coach really helped us a lot to navigate the conditions.”

Tabitha, 16, added: “These are our debut SEA Games and to win a gold medal in this event really shows that all our hard work and effort has paid off.

“I’m very thankful to everyone – coaches, friends, teammates, family, everyone back home in Singapore for their support.”

The teenager’s father is former national dragon boater Yeo Chee Wee – who competed at the 1995 and 1997 SEA Games – and the loving dad stays up at night to build her arrows, she added.

In archery, a recurve bow is defined by its limbs that curve away from the archer at each tip. In the mixed recurve team final, each pair has 80 seconds to alternate and execute two shots each, and two points are awarded to the team with the highest score from their combined four shots, with the bull’s eye worth 10 marks. The first team to reach five points win the match.

In a dramatic final, a loud pop was heard in the vicinity after both teams were locked at 19-19 following two shots each.

The resulting power outage caused the scoreboard and timer to malfunction. The match was delayed for 15 minutes, before the Malaysians shot 10s to win the first end 39-34 and take a 2-0 lead.

But the Singaporeans clawed back to win the next three ends 38-32, 39-34, 34-32 to take gold with a score of 6-2.

“When the power went out, it actually gave us time to re-focus and collect ourselves for the next shot and the next end,” said Tabitha, who has paired with Li for two years and won bronze in the Asia Cup in June.

They also had to contend with the unpredictable start-stop winds, which they managed better than their opponents.

Li said: “We expected winds, but not this bad. We really had to aim off, maybe to the red or almost to the blue, to hit back to the centre.”

Joking that he is actually Tabitha’s junior as he has one fewer year of experience than the latter’s 10, Li also thanked national coach Pang Qing Liang for employing him at his archery pro shop and granting him paid leave to train and compete.

Pang said: “They have really put in a lot of effort to train under the hot sun to get themselves to where they are today. Today, the winds were strong.

“I helped by looking at the wind socks and observing the environment and we worked well together for a better decision on where to aim.

“Of course, my dream is to increase the archery community and develop more people to be in the national team and have more Singapore archers competing on the world stage.”

Team Singapore will be aiming for more gold at the Games on Dec 18, with Ellie Low, Jeannice Low and Madeleine Ong to face Indonesia in the compound women’s team final, and Ong contesting the individual final.