Fired-up Mark gains better draw in knockout duel

BEIJING – Archer Mark Javier finished at the middle of a 64-man pack, putting him in a good position in the elimination phase after yesterday’s ranking round in the Olympic men’s individual archery competitions at the Beijing Olympic Green Archery Range here yesterday.

Javier, ranked 79th in the world and an Olympic qualifier, scored 654 after 72 arrows and finished 36th going into the first round of knockout phase Aug.13 at the same venue.

The fired-up Javier broke his Philippine record of 331 with a 333 in his second set of 36 arrows. He had 321 in the first set.

The effort avoided an early confrontation with the top guns of the event where the first-ranked archer will be paired with No. 64 in a top vs bottom format. Javier goes up against Taiwan’s Kuo Cheng Wei, ranked 29th with 659.

The first and second rounds will be held Aug. 13, with the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals slated Aug. 15.

Mexican Juan Rene Serrano pulled off an upset of sorts as he topped the ranking round with 679, beating world and Olympic champion Park Kyung-mo of Korea who came in fourth with 676 behind Indian veteran Champa Mangal Singh (678)

Malaysia’s Khalmizam Wan, whose best finish is No. 38 in last year’s archery tournament in Germany, was fourth with a 676.

Still, the world’s top 10 lived up to their status, with Russia’s Baljinima Tsyrempilov, IM Dong-Hyun of Korea and Ilario Du Buo of Italy tied at 670.