Colombia rallies to beat Chinese Taipei to women’s title

Colombia’s Sara Lopez, Alejandra Usquiano and Nora Valdez came from behind to beat Chinese Taipei’s Chen Li Ju, Chen Yi-Hsuan and Huang I-Jou by three points, 224-221, to win the compound women’s team gold at the third stage of the 2018 Hyundai Archery World Cup in Salt Lake City, USA.

“We supported each other from the beginning, we had a positive attitude through the whole match. Clear communication between us and with our coach was the key to winning,” said Nora.

Chinese Taipei started stronger, shooting 57 points for the first end to Colombia’s 52. But the Taipei team shot a seven in the second end and a sixth in the forth, while Lopez drove the Colombian trio ahead with an impressive performance in the wind.

“In the first end, we thought the wind was going to drag our arrows a bit more towards the middle, but it didn’t really work,” said Alejandra. “We tried to compensate with strong good shots throughout the rest of the match.”

World number two Lopez, who also shoots for individual gold in Salt Lake City, dropped just a single point over her eight arrows. Needing an eight to win with the last arrow of the match, she landed a perfect 10 to secure the victory.

“I always like to finish with a 10, whether I’m winning or losing and no matter the advantage or disadvantage I have,” said Sara.

“I was thinking about my match against Linda [Ochoa-Anderson] later this afternoon and I wanted to finish with the feeling of a good shot.”

Lexi Keller, Jamie Van Natta and Christie Collin of USA beat Russia, 220-202, to bronze.

The third stage of the Hyundai Archery World Cup takes place in Salt Lake City, USA on 18-24 June.