Paz sparks RP romp in Asian GPrix

Amaya Paz continued to stamp her class in the 10-nation Asian Archery Grand Prix, dominating the third leg with a near sweep of the five gold medals disputed in the women’s compound division at the close of the weeklong event yesterday at the Kyaikkasan Grounds in Yangon, Myanmar.

Paz, ranked 17th in the world, ruled the 70m, 50m, 30m and the final Olympic round while bagging the silver in the 60m to re-stake her claim as Asia’s top woman compound archer over J. Hansdah of India.

To highlight her feat, the 20-year-old Paz, a double gold medalist in the Manila SEA Games, established a new Philippine record in the 30m event with 358 points, two points shy of a perfect score.

Paz‘s performance mirrored her showing in the second leg in Malaysia last July where she won three gold medals and three silvers while clinching the Olympic overall individual compound in thrilling fashion. The Filipino ace nipped Myanmar’s Tin Zin Ei, 110-109, in the 12-arrow match play competition to win the highest individual award.

Paz did not join the first leg held in Thailand due to a dislocated elbow.

The in-form Paz also won the gold in the individual Olympic round in the accompanying Southeast Asian Championships, defeating local bet Htike with 117 out of a possible 120 points, erasing the previous record of 116 she set in the SEA Games in Subic last year.

Paz also placed eighth in World Shoot held in Shanghai, China recently and powered the RP team, which included Jennifer Chan, Joann Tabaniag, and Abigail Tinduan, to a bronze medal finish behind winner Russia and runner-up the United States.

The Filipino male archers likewise frolicked in the event, which drew 146 archers from Taiwan, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, with Earl Benjamin Yap winning the gold in the Olympic round.

Yap, also the second leg champion in Malaysia and the country’s No. 1, defeated Malaysian LH Keong to capture the top award. He also won a bronze in the 30m distance.

Rookie George Vargas also made his mark, bagging a bronze in the 90m event while the RP men’s compound team, composed of Yap, Enrique Cojuangco, Carl Achacoso and Vargas, also wound up with a bronze medal.

The world’s seventh-ranked women’s compound team, meanwhile, yielded the title it won in Malaysia due to the absence of some members who failed to join the squad due to lack of sponsors.

In the men’s individual Olympic round of the Southeast Asian Championships, Yap nipped Cojuangco, 114-113, in an all-Filipino final to capture the gold medal.