Mexican women shoot perfect tiebreak to make gold final at home

Mexico’s recurve women’s trio of Aida Roman, Alejandra Valencia and Mariana Avitia defeated Tan Ya-Ting, Lin Shih-Chia and Lin Yu-Hsuan from Chinese Taipei with a perfect shoot-off to make the gold medal match at the 2017 World Archery Championships on home turf in Mexico City.

“We wanted to be relaxed with each arrow. We knew we were shooting well so it didn’t matter that [Chinese Taipei] tied the match with the last two sets,” said Aida.

“We were focused on the trust we have in each other and we’re glad things worked out for us today.”

The Mexican women opened the match with a 57 to Chinese Taipei’s 52, and then went 4-0 up. Chinese Taipei landed only three arrows out of the 10-ring over its last 12 arrows, taking the last two sets and sending the match to a shoot-off.

The local crowd got loud.

Tang Ya-Ting opened the tiebreaker with an X, Alejandra with a 10.

Then, Lin Yu-Hsuan shot a seven; Mariana, a 10. Lin Shih-Chia, with little chance left, put down an eight – and Aida, shooting last and only needing a six to win, shot another 10.

Victory and a gold medal match berth for Mexico.

“We worked very hard during the past three weeks as a team. We practised the shoot-off and it worked out perfectly,” said Mexican coach Miguel Angel Flores, emotional.

Aida, Alejandra and Mariana qualified third after scoring a combined 1969 points over the 72-arrow 70-metre ranking round. They beat Turkey, 5-1, and then defending Champion Russia in straight sets, 6-0, before defeating Chinese Taipei.

The Mexican women will meet top seeds Chang Hye Jin, Choi Misun and Kang Chae Young of Korea for gold.

“The idea is to beat Korea because we want the gold, but more than beating them is challenging ourselves to do better,” said Alejandra.

Chinese Taipei will face China in the recurve women’s team bronze medal match.

In the history of the senior World Archery Championships, Mexico has never won a world champion title.

The 2017 Hyundai World Archery Championships run 15-22 October in Mexico City, Mexico.