Hugo Franco

Havana, July 19 (JIT) - Cuba's Hugo Franco moved up to 17th place in the world archery ranking thanks to the three bronze medals he won at the XXIV Central American and Caribbean Games of San Salvador 2023. 

The current leader of the recurve archery team enjoys his best position in this ranking with 141 units, after the update that includes the results of the Salvadoran competition.

There, Hugo won the third individual place in a memorable match against the Mexican Caleb Urbina, as he had to overcome the breakage of one of the wings of his bow just minutes before the start of the series.

Previously, he had been the protagonist of third places in the mixed doubles, together with Maydenia Sarduy, and in the men's team as a partner of Juan José Santiesteban and Javier Vega.

From his current position, he will take part in the World Archery Championships in Berlin 2023 from July 31 to August 6.

The event in the German capital will be his third experience at that level. According to what he told JIT, his goals will be to maintain the stability achieved in the 70-meter double round and to overcome the first phase of matches.

"In the last few events I have kept shooting the 70-meter double back in figures around 660-670 points. That's what I want to achieve at the World Championship," said the 31-year-old Pinar del Río native.

His first presence in an orb competition occurred in the 2011 edition of Turin, when he did not enter the field of 64 qualified for the Olympic round. Six years later, in Mexico 2017, he "sneaked" into that group, but was eliminated after the first series.

"That's why now advancing to the second round or as far as possible is also a goal," he acknowledged, convinced that this is not an easy objective.

At the end of the year, Hugo and the rest of the men's team will face the demands of the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games, in which the women's team will also participate.