By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Filipino archers were off target once again and kissed their Paris Olympic dreams goodbye after crashing out of the Final World Qualification on Tuesday, June 18, in Antalya, Turkey.
Gabrielle Monica Bidaure emerged as the best performing Filipino in the five-player Philippine team after making into the fourth round only to fall to ninth seed Ankita Bhakat of India, 6-0.
The 22-year-old Dumaguete City standout who was seeded 40th in the field, started strong with a 7-0 victory over Mayte Camila Paredes Cachi of Bolivia in the opening round, then followed it up with a tight 6-4 win over higher-ranked Medea Gvinchidze of Georgia.
She pulled off a stunning 6-5 third-set triumph over eighth seed Anastasia Pavlova of Ukraine after prevailing 10-8 in a shoot off, but failed to sustain that momentum against her Indian foe.
Jonathan Reaport, meanwhile, also lost his bearings after a 6-0 upset win over higher-ranked Phonthakorn Chaisilip of Thailand in the opening round, bowing to Poland’s Oskar Kasprowski, 6-0, in the second round.
His teammates Renian Keith Nawew, Jason Emmanuel Feliciano and Pia Elizabeth Bidaure were not fortunate and lost their respective opening-round matches.
Nawew, seeded 92nd, yielded to No. 21 Jarno De Smedt of Belgium, 6-2; Feliciano absorbed a 6-0 loss to No. 12 Roy Dror of Israel; and Pia Elizabeth bowed to Shelley Hilton also of Israel, 6-2.
More than 300 recurve archers from 80-plus nations competed in the tournament with archers from Uzbekistan, Bangladesh, Cuba, Vietnam and Czech Republic clinching the five individual quota places in the men’s division, and athletes from India, Iran, Ukraine, Moldova, Slovakia, Poland and Azerbaijan grabbing the seven individual quotas in the women’s side.
Mexico, Chinese Taipei, Great Britain also earned quotas in the men’s team event, as well as China, Malaysia, Great Britain and Chinese Taipei in the women’s team.
