Turkey successfully defends W1 men’s team title at world para championships

Yigit Caner Aydin, Bahattin Hekimoglu and Naci Yenier of Turkey beat Han Guifei, Li Ji and Zhang Tianxin of China, 213-212, to the W1 men’s team title at the 2019 World Archery Para Championships in ’s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands on Saturday 8 June.

“It’s not a surprise for us because we knew we could [win]. It was hard but we did it,” said Aydin.

The Turkish men took a one-point lead after the first six arrows, 52-51, but then trailed by two after the second end, 104-102. Going into the fourth and last end, the two-point deficit remained, the score at 159-157.

The Turkish men then scored 56 points to China’s 53 to turn the match lead upside down and claim the gold.

“I think we are a team because we complete each other. If someone makes a mistake, the others will try to help and complement,” added Aydin.

The ’s-Hertogenbosch gold medal is Turkey’s W1 men’s second world para title in a row after Beijing in 2017.

In the bronze medal match, Russia beat Italy, 207-198.

China, represented by Liu Jing and Zhang Tianxin, then took the finals arena to beat Russians Elena Krutova and Aleksei Leonov, 136-132, to the W1 mixed team gold medal.

“At the beginning, we were a little stressed but as the match advanced, we felt our heartbeats going down and confident to win,” said Zhang.

China trailed by four, 29-33, after the first end but then tied the match at 63 points apiece at the halfway point, before taking a four-point lead in the third end, 99-95. The Chinese pair never let go of the lead and secured gold, 136-132.

The bronze medal match between the Czech Republic and Japan went into a tiebreaker after both pairs scored 122 points in the 16 arrows of regulation.

Japan landed two perfect Xs to their opponent’s 16 to take the bronze.

The 2019 World Archery Para Championships take place on 3-9 June in ’s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands.