Colombia’s perfect finish wins mixed team gold

World number one compound woman Sara Lopez and mixed team partner Daniel Munoz beat a Mexican paring of Linda Ochoa-Anderson and Rodolfo Gonzalez to gold at the third stage of the Hyundai Archery World Cup in Salt Lake.

“I think we were very confident from beginning to end, we knew we were shooting well, said Munoz. “We started the match one point lower but it didn’t really matter because it was a 40-39 score, which is actually great."

“[Throughout the match] we kept in mind that we needed to keep shooting well, make good points and wait for our opponent not to follow the rhythm – and that’s what happened. It’s a nice feeling [to win] because we’ve been training hard throughout this season to be able to see these results.”

Although a point down after the first four arrows, the Colombian compound archers caught up over the second end before opening up a convincing lead to win the match with a perfect 40-point end, 157-152.

Straight after walking out of the arena, Sara Lopez turned herself around and walked out to face Song Yun Soo from Korea for individual bronze.

“Being on the finals field before my individual match definitely helped me,” said Sara. I had my sight already set. Song opened with a nine and I was already aiming to the left side [of the target]. I had some arrows that went out [of the 10-ring] because of the wind, but I did my job.”

Song found her mark towards the end of the 15-arrows and put pressure in Lopez: “I knew I needed a 10 to win, shot my shot and that’s where it landed!”

By making the finals in Salt Lake, Lopez secured herself a ticket to the circuit’s grand finale in Rome.

“[The World Cup Final] is a big challenge. This year is a bit more difficult because my opponents are getting closer, which is also good because it pushes me to raise my scores. Before I was very relaxed, but now I see we are all shooting well and proving that we can shoot as good or even better than the men.”

“I want things to continue like this and I want to go to the Final, to the World Games and to the World Championships with the best attitude and hope things go my way, but if not, I know I will always give 100%, and if that’s not enough, I’ll leave content anyway,” she added.

The third stage of the 2017 Hyundai Archery World Cup runs 20 to 25 June in Salt Lake City, USA.