Final eights decided in battle for Olympic quota places in Monterrey

The journey to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games officially moves one stage closer Saturday at the 2021 Pan American Championships.

Three recurve men’s and three recurve women’s quota places for the postponed Olympics are available to countries competing in Monterrey, Mexico.

The session starts at 13h00 CST (local). You can watch via Claro Sports across Latin America, and on World Archery’s Youtube channel worldwide.

Each eligible nation can only win a maximum of one spot per gender. Archers completed the ranking round on Tuesday, and we’ve already had a few phases of elimination.

Just eight men and eight women remain in the qualification competition.

Some countries have had more than one archer advance to the quarterfinals, so it’s not necessarily a simple case in which the top three archers on the podium collect quota places. Read on to find out how the tournament can play out.

Recurve men

Which countries are left? Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Mexico and the US Virgin Islands.

How will it work? The shape of this event is entirely reliant on Andres Pila and Jorge Enriquez from Colombia. If both win their quarterfinals, the three countries represented in the semis will win the quota places.

(That would be Colombia, Chile – because Chilean archers Aguilar and Soto face each other in the first quarterfinal – and the winner of the match between the Alvarezes from Mexico and Ecuador.)

If the Colombian archers lose one or both of their matches, then it will be the three athletes who climb the podium who win the Olympic quota places.

Quarterfinals

• Andres Aguilar, Chile versus Ricardo Soto, Chile
• Andres Pila, Colombia versus Hugo Franco, Cuba
• Luis Alvarez, Mexico versus Jose Alvarez, Ecuador
• Nicholas d’Amour, US Virgin Islands versus Jorge Enriquez, Colombia

Recurve women

Which countries are left? Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Dominican Republic and Ecuador.

How will it work? Both Brazil and Canada have two archers in the recurve women’s quarterfinals, making this qualification situation a little tougher to understand.

If either country has both its athletes enter the semifinals, then it will be the three countries represented in the semis who win the quota places.

If both Ane Marcelle Dos Santos of Brazil and Tania Edwards of Canada win their quarterfinals, then the qualification is over – and the winner of the match between Mayte Paredes of Bolivia and Adriana Espinosa of Ecuador will take the third spot.

If both Dos Santos and Edwards lose, then it will be the three athletes who climb the podium who win the Olympic quota places. (So despite having two archers each in the last eight, there’s a situation in which neither Brazil nor Canada qualifies.)

Quarterfinals

• Ane Marcelle Dos Santos, Brazil versus Florencia Leithold, Argentina
• Mayte Paredes, Bolivia versus Adriana Espinosa, Ecuador
• Tania Edwards, Canada versus Stefany Jerez, Dominican Republic
• Ana Machado, Brazil versus Stephanie Barrett, Canada

The quota places for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games will be awarded on Saturday in Monterrey.