I

ndonesia'€™s archery team emerged as the overall champion of the 17th ASEAN University Games (AUG) after snatching five out of 10 gold medals in the discipline during the 11-day multi-sport event in Palembang, South Sumatra.

Malaysia was second with four gold, three silver and two bronze followed by Singapore with one gold, two silver and four bronze.

Dellie Thereesyadinda and Yoke Rizaldi Akbar bagged the gold from the mixed compound division while another gold was snatched by Riau Ega Salsabila, Muhammad Hanif Wijaya and Irvaldi Ananda Putera in the men'€™s team recurve division. Riau, who partnered with Titik Kusumawardani, grabbed his second gold in the mixed recurve division and collected his third gold in the men'€™s singles recurve division. Yulia Anggraini joined the gold medalists'€™ list after winning in the women'€™s singles recurve division.

'€œWe have improved [our achievement] compared to the previous event in Laos, despite our limited preparation,'€ coach HMA Hanafiah said on Thursday.

He revealed that his athletes only had two weeks to prepare for the AUG after earlier participating in a national tournament in Lampung last month.

He added that he was surprised to see the performance of Singaporean archer Hang Teng, who took the gold medal in the men'€™s singles compound division.

Hanafiah expected his athletes to be able to record the same or even higher achievements at the upcoming Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games), which will take place from June 5 to 16, 2015, in Singapore.

At the 27th SEA Games in 2013 in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, the Indonesian archery team brought home two gold medals, two silver and three bronze, slightly behind overall champion Malaysia, which brought home two gold, three silver and a bronze.

As of Thursday, Indonesia had overtaken Thailand in the medal standing, leading with 43 gold, 57 silver and 32 bronze, compared to Thailand'€™s 37 gold, 23 silver and 17 bronze and Malaysia with 28 gold, 26 silver and 39 bronze.