Pinays cop team gold in Asian archery

MANILA, Philippines - Amaya Paz-Cojuangco capped a stellar campaign in the 2015 Asia Cup Stage Two tourney by teaming up with fellow veteran Jennifer Chan and young gun Andrea Robles in copping the compound women’s team gold medal Saturday in Bangkok, Thailand.

Paz-Cojuangco, Chan and 17-year-old Robles edged Indian rivals Jyoti Surekha Vennam, Purvasha Sudhir Shenda and Genny Tuksey in a thrilling finale, 224-223, as the Philippines ended the tourney with a bang.

It was the second gold for Paz-Cojuangco, who earlier topped the compound mixed team event with Jose Ferdinand Adriano and took runner-up honors in compound women’s individual play.

Per the World Archery News website, Team Philippines’ 2-1-0 harvest was the third-best in the four-day meet behind India’s 3-2-1 and Chinese Taipei’s 2-1-2.

The Cojuangco-Chan-Robles crew topped the qualification with 2,043 and took a bye in the quarterfinals. The Pinays nipped Hong Kong’s Lee Wan Yi, Kan On Man and Shum Kit Pui, 224-220 for a place in the semis, where they trounced Indonesia’s Triya Resky Andriyani, Dellie Threesyadinda, and Rona Sari, 221-210, to reach the gold medal match.

Phl’s bets in the compound men’s team – Adriano, Paul Morton dela Cruz and Earl Benjamin Yap – emerged first after the qualification but bowed to Korea’s Hwang Jeung Hun, Kim Gyu, and Jin Wang Do, 215-225, in the quarterfinals to crash out.

Meanwhile, Rachel Cabral and teeners Kareel Hongitan and Mary Queen Ybanez lost to India’s Madhu Vedwan, Monica Saren and Himani Boro in the battle for the bronze in recurve women’s team play, 1-5.

The 12th-ranked trio had a good run in the KO stages, upstaging No. 5 Kazakhstan, 6-0, then beat Thailand, 6-2, to reach the semis. However, they got stopped by eventual champion Chinese Taipei, 0-6, to slide to the third-place match.

Still, it was the country’s best finish since landing at third back in 2002.