Underdog archers bid to survive

LONDON – Although Mark Javier conceded that he was far from his best form in the 72-arrow seeding, the two-time Olympian vowed to bounce back with a vengeance in a knockout one-on-one match against the US’ Brady Ellison at the Lord’s Cricket Ground here this Wednesday.

Javier, 30, compiled only 649 points of a perfect score of 720, with seven bull’s eyes, to rank No. 55. Ellison, 23, tallied 676 points with 16 bull’s eyes for 10th place. The 5-11, 190-pound American is a five-time World Cup champion but finished only 17th at the Beijing Olympics. 

Javier couldn’t hide his disappointment after his showing in the seeding last Friday. From a scale of 1 to 10, he rated himself a 6. “I can’t explain it,” he said. “That was not my best. Sometimes, things like that just happen. At least, I can come back. It’s not over yet. I scored my average but the others went way over theirs, showing the quality of the competition.”

Javier isn’t fazed by Ellison’s reputation. In Beijing, he was seeded 36th and lost to Chinese-Taipei’s No. 29 Kuo Cheng Wei, 106-102, in the round of 32. This time, Javier will go up against a higher seed and the reigning World Cup titlist. His immediate goal is survive Ellison. If he hurdles the American, Javier will move into the quarterfinals.

The country’s other archery bet Rachelle Anne Cabral-de la Cruz also faltered in the women’s seeding, winding up No. 48 with a total of 653 points and seven bull’s eyes. She takes on Russia’s No. 17 Inna Stepanova in the first round of the knockout pairings tomorrow.

The men’s seeding was done in the morning and the women took their turn in the afternoon. Competitors shot 36 arrows, had a 15-minute rest then did another 36 to complete the 72-arrow seeding. In the knockout series, every round gives only three arrows to each archer.

National Archery Association of the Philippines (NAAP) secretary-general Terry Lim, who is here with Korean coach Chung Jae Hun, said she prefers the Filipino hopefuls to be underrated. “I think we still have a big chance,” she said. “I’m not losing hope. Mark shot a little lower than his average but because the others scored so highly, it seemed like he was way off. It’s the Olympics and the competition is extremely stiff. But with the new format in the knockout matches, anything can happen. They play a best-of-five series in a race to six points, a system where the competitors start from zero at each end.”

Lim said Javier and Cabral-de la Cruz are a perfect tandem because they’re so unlike. “Mark’s a quiet guy while Rachelle is quite outgoing,” she said. “Maybe, that’s why they get along. They’re opposites. Seriously, they’re both ready for the knockout phase. They trained two weeks in Korea with Chung before flying to London. Korea is the dominant country in world archery. Young archers in their national pool are already world-class. They’ve got thousands of archers and hundreds of shooting ranges all over the country. In the Olympics, there are several Korean coaches in different countries just like Cuban coaches in boxing.”

Chung, 38, was a silver medalist in archery at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

Lim said Cabral-de la Cruz, 27, was discovered by Pansiteria San Jacinto owner and businessman Ricky Torres at the Palarong Pambansa. When Cabral-de la Cruz left home in Camarines Sur to escape her father Teodoro who often turned violent after getting drunk, Torres took her in. She enrolled at the University of Makati as a scholar with the varsity archery team and earned a degree in Physical Wellness and Education last year. Torres is now a NAAP vice president and technical director in-charge of coaches development.

“I’m hoping the mileage that archery gains from the Olympics will encourage more Filipinos to try the sport because we can excel in it,” said Lim. “It’s just too bad that in the Olympics, only the recurve bow is allowed. The compound bow is used in the Southeast Asian Games and will make its debut in the next Asian Games. One of our compound champions Aya Paz is well-known in Asia and in London, so many of our Asian neighbors asked if she’s competing. They’re scared of her. Aya enjoys the respect of the best Asian archers.  However, I don’t think Olympic archery will include a compound event, at least not in the next 10 years. They prefer to be traditional and use only the recurve.”