“Ready for anything”, says Alvarino Garcia after Spain makes mixed team final in Antalya
The pairing of Miguel Alvarino Garcia and Elia Canales rampaged through the recurve mixed team bracket in Antalya, dropping just three set points in total against the USA, Moldova, and a much-fancied China.
Spain will now face Russia’s Erdem Irdyneev and Elena Osipova in a final on Konyaalti Beach on Sunday at the third stage of the 2019 Hyundai Archery World Cup.
It will be Canales’ second trip into the arena on that day as she is also shooting for bronze with the Spanish women’s team.
A buoyant Alvarino Garcia was bullish about the result:
“I’ve never shot like this before. I’m feeling really comfortable. I’m at one of the best points of my career. I also feel the bow is working really good. My psychology is really strong. I’ve never been at this point before. I’m ready for anything,” he said.
“I really wanted to shoot a final. I knew it was going to happen one day soon.”
Spain team has seen an uptick in quality on the circuit in 2019, and it’s another surge for Miguel’s career – and perhaps at just the right time, with the European Games around the corner. He is, of course, defending champion at that event from Baku in 2015.
“I’m really looking forward to it. Spain has an excellent chance of a medal. I hope it will be the stepping stone for us to go to the Olympic Games,” he said.
Turkey and China will compete for the recurve mixed team bronze medal.
It was a testing morning on the recurve field, with almost every pairing having some experience in the finals field, and the top two seeds – Chinese Taipei and Italy – falling in the first match of the day.
In the compound mixed team event, second seeds South Africa will compete against fourth-ranked Denmark for the gold medal, after edging out Turkey in a shoot-off. Jeanine van Kradenburg and Reuben Brent-Meek had two Xs in the tiebreak; the Turkish team shot one X, one 10.
Another South African archer, Danelle Wentzel, also has a chance at a medal. Wentzel is into her first individual final on the Hyundai Archery World Cup circuit on Saturday.
The compound mixed team bronze medal match will be between Italy and Turkey. Italy, seeded 16th, eliminated the top-ranked USA to spring the run at the arena.
The third stage of the 2019 Hyundai Archery World Cup takes place on 20-26 May in Antalya, Turkey.
