Mexico has named 16 archers to its Hyundai Archery World Cup squad after trials organised by the operations committee put in place to run national events and administrate the national team after the derecognition of the national federation.
The three-day event, which was open to archers across the country, started with a double qualifying round on Friday at the national high-performance centre in the Mexican capital. Athletes who hit a minimum score standard (recurve men – 1280, recurve women – 1240, compound men – 1380, compound women – 1360) advanced to two days of matchplay and round robins.
Match results were tallied with each win earning points towards a final ranking and a potential spot in the team.
Olympic mixed team medallist Alejandra Valencia put in the top performance of the 32 recurve women, followed by London 2012 individual Olympic medallists Aida Roman and Mariana Avitia, while the compound men were led by youth world champion Sebastian Garcia, ahead of reigning World Games Champion Miguel Becerra.
Luis Alvarez, who paired with Valencia to win the Olympic doubles silver in Tokyo, missed the cut altogether. He shot three points under the score standard and did not even make the reserve list.
Recent international mainstay Ana Vazquez dropped out of the primary line-up but was named to the second team. Her spot in the top recurve women’s team was taken by 16-year-old Angela Ruiz.
Dafne Quintero and Maya Becerra, who both shot in the compound women’s elite eight at last year’s Hyundai Archery World Cup Final, retained their places in the main squad.
While a country can enter four archers per category to stages of the Hyundai Archery World Cup, the maximum is three at the Hyundai World Archery Championships. The championship teams will be selected over two more trials, one being the season opener in Antalya and a second taking place in Mexico afterwards.
The same teams will be entered into the Central American and Caribbean Games. Further trials will take place for the Pan American Games.
The operations committee that is responsible for running the selection process and managing the national team’s entries to international competitions – until a new national federation is established – is led by former Mexican international Juan Rene Serrano.
Mexican squad for 2023
- Recurve men: Matias Grande, Caleb Urbina, Carlos Rojas and Jesus Flores.
- Recurve women: Alejandra Valencia, Angela Ruiz, Aida Roman and Mariana Avitia.
- Compound men: Sebastian Garcia, Miguel Becerra, Rodrigo Olvera and Juan Carlos del Rio.
- Compound women: Ana Hernandez, Dafne Quintero, Andrea Becerra and Mariana Bernal.
Up to four additional archers in each category were named to the reserve team.
