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Kumar adds Fazza gold, builds on Indian para team’s increasing momentum

27 février 2021

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

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Rajesh Kumar shoots during finals at the Fazza tournament in 2021.

Rakesh Kumar defeated teammate Shyam Sundar Swami, 143-135, in the compound men’s open final at the first para world ranking event of the year in Dubai to give India its second gold medal of the tournament.

It was less than five years ago that the Indian team was making its archery debut at the Paralympic Games. The picture looks very different as we edge closer to the postponed Games in Tokyo, with the nation boasting a Para Asian Games Champion in Harvinder Singh and numerous archers collecting podiums at the international level.

“It was a good experience to be on the shooting line after a long time,” said Kumari after his win at the Fazza. “I have been working on the mental aspect lately and this helped me in the final.”

Russian archers Stepanida Artakhinova and Anton Ziapaev, and Turkey’s Yagmur Sengul also took individual gold medals on the last day of the event.

Artakhinova defeated India’s Jyoti Baliyan, 130-128, in the compound women’s open final.

Ziapaev shot three sets of 27 points to take a clean victory over Mykola Halyschych of Ukraine in the recurve men’s open final.

The recurve women’s open gold medal match, featuring back-to-back Paralympic Champion Zahra Nemati, delivered the upset of the tournament.

The finals arena at the Fazza tournament in 2021.

Twenty-seven-year-old Sengul lost the first set but edged ahead, amid windy conditions, in each of the next three, to drop the number one seed, 6-2, and secure her first individual medal at an international event. It was also Turkey’s third gold in Dubai and lifted the country to the top of the medal table.

“Today wasn’t a very good day,” said Nemati after the defeat. “I had a bad shot and lost my focus in the competition.”

The event will contribute points towards the para archery world ranking, which is currently in a transition period. No points depreciate over time and new points can be added. This period is expected to end on 1 April.