The Bangkok 2023 Asian Archery Championships wrapped on Thursday, awarding Olympic team spots to Kazakhstan’s men and Korea’s women as well as crowning continental champions for the next two years. The results also meant that individual men’s and women’s Olympic spots also went to Indonesia, plus a single women’s spot to Chinese Taipei.
This two-day, recurve-only tournament, held at the same venue, offers another chance for individual Olympic qualification for two men and two women.
The invitation list, however, is very strict – it’s only open to Asian countries that currently have no athletes in their gender category qualified for Paris. (For example, the Kazakhstan women’s team are competing, but not the men’s team, as they won spots on Thursday.)
The rules are simple – the top two athletes, in men’s and women’s individual competition, get an Olympic spot. So if you make the final, you get the ticket.
However, only one spot is permitted per country, so if two athletes make the final from the same country, the bronze medallist will qualify, and so on.
Qualification for the 49 men and 43 women took place on Friday morning, with the top scorers being India's Dhiraj Bommadevara on 677, and Malaysia's Ariana Nur Dania Mohamad Zairi on 649. Both made it to Saturday’s finals.
After a shootdown to the last eight – during which the Bangkok weather was again unleashed – these countries now have a chance at the spots:
MEN: India; Iran (x2); Saudi Arabia; Hong Kong, China; Bangladesh; Chinese Taipei
WOMEN: Malaysia; Bangladesh; Iran (x2); Vietnam; Thailand; Uzbekistan; India (x2)
Because of the way the brackets fall, it is possible that both Iranian men could make the final, and/or both Indian women could make the final. If that happens, each country would receive one place and the bronze medallist country would then pick up a spot.
The competition moves straight into finals matchplay on Saturday morning with the last eight women shooting in the morning, followed by the men in the afternoon.
Top qualifiers: 2023 Asian CQT
- Recurve men: Dhiraj Bommadevara, India – 677
- Recurve women: Ariana Nur Dania Mohamad Zairi, Malaysia – 649
