WITH qualifying slots on the line for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, the national archery squad is keen on doing well in the 19th Hangzhou Asian Games archery tournament opening at the picturesque Fuyang Yinhu Sports Center range in Hangzhou, China this Sunday.
“‘Yung mag-qualify sa Paris Olympics ang talagang target namin so we prepared hard for the Asian Games,” said World Archery Philippines secretary general Rosendo Sombrio yesterday on the eve of their departure for the continental sportsfest.
The men’s and women’s recurve squads, respectively, are composed of Jason Emmanuel Feliciano and Jonathan Ebbinghans Reaport and siblings Gabrielle Monica and Pia Elizabeth Bidaure, who were gold medalists in the women’s team event of the Vietnam Southeast Asian Games last year.
The compound squad is made up of Paul Marton dela Cruz as the lone athlete in the men’s division while the female archers are Andrea Robles and comebacking Amaya Paz Cojuangco, who bagged two gold medals in the women’s team and individual compound events in the 2007 Thailand SEA Games.
The national coaches are Clint Sayo and Joy Marino while Sombrio, also a national archer himself, will assist in coaching the compound squad.
Based on the Olympic qualification process released by World Archery, the governing body for the sport, the top two places in each of the individual recurve events in the Hangzhou Asiad will earn tickets to the Paris Olympics, according to Sombrio.
He revealed that overall team morale was high after their recent two-week training camp in Taiwan.
“We had a good and strong bonding time in Taiwan. Our archers learned a lot there and we hope to carry this spirit as we compete in the Asian Games,” he said.
Given the intensive training they had in Taiwan as well as another training camp in South Korea prior to that, the WAP official said the recurve archers have what it takes to excel in the Asiad.
Dela Cruz was the last Filipino archer to make a podium finish in the Asiad, garnering a bronze medal in the men’s individual compound event in the 2014 edition in Incheon, South Korea.
