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Paralympic Champion Drahoninsky flying in Dubai

24 February 2022

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Real name:

David Drahoninsky at the 2022 World Archery Para Championships.

Tokyo 2020 Paralympic gold medallist David Drahoninsky overcame some equipment issues early in the day to fall just three short of his own world record of 680 points, hitting 677 in qualification to take top seed the W1 men’s event at the 2022 World Archery Para Championships in Dubai.

He was well ahead of his nearest rival, Mohammadreza Zandi, who came in 17 points behind on 660.

“I had some problems with equipment earlier, but it was only in training,” said the characteristically pragmatic Czech archer, who won his second Paralympics last year after Beijing in 2008.

“I prepared as great I can, but I can work a little bit more and next time it will be a little bit better.”

“It was my first competition this season from 50 metres and I am satisfied and did great results,” the 39-year-old added. “I wanted to shoot the record but I had three faults, which were the difference. It is nice that I can be here [and] meet here new archers from our category and old friends."

Those friends include reigning world champion and joint-world-number-one Bahattin Hekimoglu who landed in 12th, with 622, and fellow world number one Tamas Gaspar, who was only three places higher, in ninth with 629.

The W1 Women in action at the 2022 World Archery Para Championships

Top seed in the W1 women’s event went to the Russian Archery Federation’s Elena Krutova.

“The preparations were difficult for me, I was ill [but] I’m happy with my shooting. I would like to do better, but at this moment it’s what I could do,” she said. Arriving in Dubai as the defending world champion, she was the only 2019 title-holder to top today’s qualification rounds.

The world number four shot 625 in a competition where Paralympic Champion Chen Minyi and world number one Victoria Rumary are absent, Rumary having been unable to travel due to COVID-19.

“I try not to think about the long-term future, just about my work," said Krutova about the possibility of winning a second, successive gold in the competition. “First, I need to do my best and then we will see [what happens].”

The recurve women’s field in Dubai is wide open, with reigning world champion Wu Chunyan and top-ranked world record holder and three-time Paralympic champion Zahra Nemati not competing.

Margarita Sidorenko, a mixed team gold medallist at Tokyo 2020, grabbed the top spot with 623. The world number 10 is at her third world championships and looks set to break her previous highest finish of fifth, back in 2017 in China.

Pooja, who famously made India’s Paralympic archery debut at Rio 2016, seeded an impressive fourth.

Kevin Maher at the 2022 World Archery Para Championships

Recurve men’s qualification saw Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Champion Kevin Mather finish down in 18th place, shooting 590, 52 points behind top-seeded Frenchmen Guillaume Toucoullet. The former champion rower is a mouth-tab shooter, drawing the bow back by gripping the string between his teeth, and ranked number three in the world.

World number one Sadik Savas landed ninth on 615. Malaysia’s reigning champion Suresh Selvathamby is not competing in Dubai.

The visually impaired competition at this event has combined the two usual categories to ensure a world champion can be crowned. Today saw the winner of the visually impaired 1 event at the 2019 World Archery Para Championships, Ruben Vanhollebeke, came out on top with a score of 457 points, well ahead of Italy’s Matteo Panariello (393).

Both received a bye into the quarterfinals on Saturday, with the remaining 12 archers battling it out in the opening round of competition straight after qualification alongside some of the recurve men. The biggest early casualty was Italy’s Giovanni Vaccaro, sixth-qualifier in the visually impaired event, who was upset by Norway’s Anette Londal.

Men and women shoot together in the visually impaired competition.

The first medal of the 2022 World Archery Para Championships will be awarded tomorrow in Dubai with finals scheduled in all the compound competitions.

Photos courtesy Yayha Essa (Dubai Club for People of Determination).

Quotes courtesy Priyanka Sharma (organising committee) and Antoni Cichy.