SHANA wins Bangladesh first world ranking gold

Md. Ruman SHANA beat men’s Olympic silver medallist Takahara FURUKAWA (JPN) in the quarters and showed perseverance with a semifinal single-arrow shoot-off win. Matched up in the final against Russian recurve Bair TSYBEKDORZHIEV, he wasn’t perfect – but consistent.

Three of SHANA’s sets totalled just 26 points, while his Russian opponent started with a 29. It put the athlete from Bangladesh 3-1 down at the halfway point.

But while TSYBEKDORZHIEV struggled with wind and keeping his arrows inside the red, SHANA’s groups were tighter. Two set wins in a row reversed the advantage, and he sealed a well-deserved gold medal in a last-set draw, 6-4.

All three members of Bangaldesh’s recurve men’s team finished in the top 16 at this Asian Grand Prix, and the team qualified an impressive fifth before losing a quarterfinal shoot-off to Russia.

It’s clear improvement for a nation that’s had a number of international coaches in recent years. Richard PRIESTMAN was there before moving to South America (he is now Brazil’s head coach) – but the team’s success in Bangkok has the fingerprints of Korean coach Park, who has been working with Bangladesh for the last month.

Check all the scores from the Bangkok 2014 Asian Grand Prix, and World Archery’s coverage on Twitter and Facebook.