Preview: Pan Am Games places up for grabs at Copa Merengue

Twenty-one countries from across the Caribbean, Central and South America are competing for Pan Am Games quota places and world ranking points at the Copa Merengue on 11-15 April.

The annual competition, held at the sports complex at Parque del Este in Santo Domingo, is a major event. This ninth edition sees more than 150 archers participating, including representatives from nations not frequently seen in international competition, such as Jamaica, Guatemala, Curaçao, and the Bahamas.

The field includes a handful of international names such as Mexican compounder Miguel Becerra, who was World Games Champion in 2022 and is currently ranked fifth in the world. Rio 2016 Olympian Ricardo Soto and promising Puerto Rican Adrian Munoz are also taking part.

This Copa Merengue is the penultimate qualifying tournament for the 2023 Pan Am Games in Santiago, with the final places available at the Central American and Caribbean Games in El Salvador later this summer.

Key information

What’s happening? The Copa Merengue, 11-15 April in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

What’s at stake? World ranking points – and quota places for this year’s Pan Am Games.

Who’s competing? More than 150 archers from 21 countries plus independents.

What’s the story? There are 18 quota places for the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games available at the Copa Merengue – including two in each of the recurve team events.

Qualification for the Pan Am Games

There are 18 places for the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games available in Santo Domingo – 16 for recurve archers and two in the compound events. The quotas will be distributed during a secondary set of matchplay which will take place in the afternoon on Friday.

Two teams per gender will win full tickets before the remaining individual spots are distributed – and these are the countries eligible to compete for them:

Recurve men: Argentina, Bolivia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Jamaica, Peru, Puerto Rico and Venezuela.

Recurve women: Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Jamaica, Peru and Venezuela.

At the Pan Am Games, countries can either qualify a team (three recurve archers or two compound archers) or one individual archer. There are no more team quota places available in the compound events – but the following countries can add individual compound quotas at the Copa Merengue.

Compound men: Bahamas, Bolivia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama and Peru.

Compound women: Argentina, Barbados, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Panama, Puerto Rico and Venezuela.

Schedule

• Wednesday 12 April: Qualifying
• Thursday 13 April: Eliminations
• Friday 14 April: Eliminations and Pan Am Games qualifier
• Saturday 15 April: Finals

How to watch

Watch live footage on the World Archery YouTube channel. Live scores will be available on the World Archery website and there will be coverage on World Archery’s digital platforms throughout the competition.

Who’s competing?

Full entries are available online. These are the top-ranked archers competing in Santo Domingo:

• Recurve men: Adrian Munoz, Puerto Rico (world rank: 20)
• Recurve women: Javiera Andrades, Chile (world rank: 50)
• Compound men: Miguel Becerra, Mexico (world rank: 5)
• Compound women: Ana Mendoza, Venezuela (world rank: 55)

Competition at the Copa Merengue in Santo Domingo starts with qualifying on Wednesday.