Archers falter in Nanjing

NANJING – The Philippines couldn’t shoot its arrows straight Saturday and took a heartbreaking loss in the women’s individual recurve at the Fangshan Archery Field here.

Bianca Roxas-Chua Gotuaco was highly favored to win her round-of-32 elimination match against Japan’s Miasa Koike and move closer to the medal round of this Youth Olympics.

But the 17-year-old Filipina faltered when it mattered.

Gotuaco finished No. 11 among 32 archers with 642 points in last Friday’s ranking round while Koike was No. 22 with 618.

It was pretty clear who had the upperhand.

However, things went the opposite way in the Olympic round, where archers are pitted one-on-one based on rankings, and allowed to shoot three arrows per set.

They were even in the first at 26-26 before the Japanese took the second at 25-24. After another deadlock in the third set at 26-26, Gotuaco needed to win the fourth to force a deciding set.

The Japanese took the fourth set by the closest of margins, 23-22, to slam the door on the charming Filipina archer. Based on set points, Koike won, 6-2.

Gotuaco was bitter after her loss and did not speak to reporters.

Gabriel Luis Moreno was first on deck for the Philippines on a hot and humid day but also couldn’t handle the pressure, and lost to Brazilian Marcus D’Almeida.

Moreno, ranked 30th, lost all three sets to the Brazilian ranked No. 3, 22-29, 26-30, 27-28. On set points, the score was 6-0.

The Pinoy flag-bearer during last week’s grand opening took it in stride.

“It’s okay. I gave my best,” said Moreno, who will still vie in Sunday’s mixed event where he is paired with China’s Li Jiaman.

Gotuaco, who won the women’s junior recurve gold in the recent US National Target Championships in Ohio, closed the second set with a 10 but the Japanese countered with her own.

During the short lull, Gotuaco exchanged high fives with her coach, Marvin Cordero.

The Filipino archery coach said it was a pressure cooker out in the range.

“Iba talaga ang pressure dito. Ibang-iba sila sa practice this morning. Hindi lumalabas sa yellow targets. (It was different in practice. They couldn’t miss the yellow rings). Pero experience sa kanila ito. Young athletes eh. (But this is an experience for them. They are young) ,” he said.

Chef-de-mission Jonne Go said Gotuaco came to the match confident of her chances.

“Sayang talaga. But she needs more exposure to further build her confidence,” said the delegation head.

Philippine Sports Commission chairman Richie Garcia saw the action from the VIP lounge along with Philippine Olympic Committee president Jose Cojuangco.

“Ganun talaga. There was pressure,” said the PSC chairman, who hopes to see Gotuaco and Moreno in the lineup for the 2015 SEA Games in Singapore.

“Most of our archers compete in the compound and these are young archers in the recurve,” he said.

The Philippines was still pinning its hopes on gymnast Ava Verdeflor in the uneven bars finals scheduled at 8:30 p.m. last night as well as track and field’s Zion Rose Nelson who was set to race in the 400-m (Finals B) at 8:15 p.m.

It seemed that Gotuaco got herself going after that 10 as she managed to tie the third set. But she made a very costly mistake in the fourth set when she hit a five on her first arrow.

Right there she kissed her hopes goodbye.