NANJING – Luis Gabriel Moreno of the Philippines felt it was a blessing to be paired with Li Jiaman of China in archery’s mixed team event of this Youth Olympics.
“I’m lucky to have been paired with her,” said Moreno, the day after he teamed up with Jiaman to win the gold medal last Sunday at the Fangshan Archery Field.
It may seem that Moreno, who was No. 30 in the men’s rankings, had to ride the shoulders of his petite Chinese partner, the No. 3 lady archer here.
But Moreno held his own when the going got tough on that rain-soaked afternoon.
In the semis, against a pair from Canada and Finland, Moreno opened up with three straight 10s, the maximum point for each arrow, had a couple of 8s then hit another 10.
The big Chinese crowd that came to watch Jiaman compete cheered loudly each time Moreno hit a 10. In the finals, against archers from Malaysia and Germany, the 5-foot-10 Filipino added two more.
Moreno said he was fortunate to have Jiaman as partner because he felt like he was on home soil, enjoying the crowd support.
Jiaman is an excellent archer. In the most crucial stages of the match, it appeared that she was guiding Moreno, telling him what to do.
“She can talk a little English. She was very encouraging and I think I needed that,” said Moreno.
He got so encouraged he dished out the best performance of his life. In the semis and finals, Moreno scored a total of 112 points out of 12 arrows.
Jiaman, the better archer, had 114 points.
Moreno, who was almost disqualified for arriving late for the afternoon session, offered the victory to his family and the Filipino people, especially the youth.
“I hope I can become a symbol of inspiration to all Filipino athletes and I hope a lot of Filipino athletes will qualify next year for the Rio Olympics,” he said.
His father, Fred Moreno, is the newly elected president of the Philippine Archers National Network and Alliance Inc., the country’s governing body in the sport.
Moreno admitted that he came to Nanjing with no expectations.
“That makes the victory even sweeter. We now have a gold medal in the Youth Olympics,” said Philippine chef-de-mission Jonne Go.
“We are very proud of our athletes here especially Moreno,” said Philippine Sports Commission chairman Richie Garcia of the young archer, a student of La Salle Greenhills.
Philippine Olympic Committee president Jose Cojuangco missed Sunday’s archery finals because of a scheduled flight back home, and was very happy when he heard news of Moreno’s triumph.
“But overall, all our athletes in this YOG made our country proud,” said Cojuangco.
Archery, the young gold medalist said, is a sport for the Filipinos.
“It can also be interesting. You don’t have to be tall or short, you don’t have to have long arms or short limbs. As long as you have the will and determination you can do anything,” he said.
He just did.