Pinoy archers nail Jr Olympic berths

MANILA, Philippines - Filipino recurve cadet archers Luis Gabriel Moreno and Bianca Gotuaco nailed berths to the 2014 Nanjing Youth Olympic Games after hitting the mark in the YOG Continental Quota Tournament in Taipei the other day.

Moreno won the gold medal in the boys’ competition while Gotuaco came through with a finals stint as the duo became the first Phl bets to qualify for the prestigious multi-sport Olympiad for athletes aged 14-18.

The 15-year-old Moreno, booked his spot in Nanjing by beating Prennoy Murong of Bangladesh in the semifinals, 6-2. He then sweetened the feat by capturing the mint via a 6-0 drubbing of fellow Nanjing-bound Panjiaji Bukhori Rahmat of Indonesia.

For her part, Gotuaco made it through after beating semifinal foe Oyuntungalag Chimedtseren of Mongolia, 6-2. Finals rival Aruzhan Abrazak of Kazakhstan, however, beat her for the gold via a one-arrow shoot off.

The Asian qualifiers for the Aug. 16-28 Nanjing YOG were held in between sessions of the Asian Archery Championships’ team competitions.

Powerhouse Korea stamped its class in the team recurve hostilities, sweeping the men’s and women’s divisions. Ku Bonchan, Jin Jae Wang, Jung Sung Won beat Japan’s Takaharu Furukawa, Shungo Tabata and Shohei Ota, 224-220, to give Korea the men’s gold while Choi Misun, Joo Hyun Jung and Jung Dasomi nipped host Taipei, 220-211, in the finals.

India and Chinese Taipei split honours in the compound competitions. Indians Abhishek Verma, Ratan Singh Khuraijam and Sandeep Kumar upstaged Koreans Min Lihong, Choi Young Hee and Kim Jongho in a closely-fought finale, 233-231, to take the men’s gold while Taiwanese Min Lihong, Choi Young Hee and Kim Jongho, snared the women’s mint at the expense of Iran’s Mino Abedi, Shabman Sarlak, and Sakineh Ghasempou, 224-217.