Chinese Taipei dominate recurve podiums at Asia Cup in Bangkok

Both recurve men’s and women’s bronze medal spots went to Chinese Taipei in 7-1 set point victories.

Tan Ya Ting, experienced internationally, beat veteran opponent Kristina Timofeeva from Russia 6-2 to secure recurve women’s gold for Chinese Taipei, too.

The men’s final was a closer affair.

WANG Hou Chieh and Sanjay Boro were all square after five sets. Boro won the first set, Wang the second – and the pair split the rest. In the shoot-off, the Chinese Taipei athlete could only muster an eight.

India’s Sanjay Boro shot a nine, denying Chinese Taipei a second recurve gold.

Asian Games Champion and World Archery Athlete of the Year nominee Esmaeil Ebadi won the compound men’s gold ahead of Vietnam’s Tien Cuong Nguyen. Iran’s Ebadi had eight points on Nguyen over the 150-arrow match.

The women’s top finish went to Jyothi Surekha Vennam.

She was also a podium finisher at last year’s Asian Games. The 18-year-old Indian secured nationwide fame after claiming gold in Incheon. Vennam won Bangkok with a 142 after needing a 142 and a 10-point shoot-off arrow to beat teammate Prabhjot Kaur in the semis.

Pavel Fisher of Kazakhstan had the compound men’s bronze medal, Fatin Nurfatehah Mat Salleh the compound women’s.

Improvement from Egypt and Qatar – who had quarterfinalists in the recurve women’s and men’s categories, respectively – bodes well for the upcoming season, during which qualification for Rio 2016 begins.

Competition concludes in Bangkok tomorrow with the team eliminations and finals. Mixed team finals were held earlier in the week.