Photo taken from Facebook
Havana, April 12 (JIT) - Cuba was left out of the distribution of Olympic quotas for teams at the Pan American Archery Championship of Medellin 2024, in Colombia, where only the owner of the men's ticket remains to be defined.
In a particularly complicated match, the men's recurve archery team, led by Hugo Franco, lost 3-5 points against Mexico, ninth in the world ranking, but demanded to the maximum to keep their chances of reaching the Olympic Games of Paris 2024.
"We started winning the first set and then tied the second. It's been a long time since we had managed to score three points against the Mexicans," coach Reiter Tellez told JIT, partly satisfied with what was shown by the trio completed by Juan Jose Santiesteban and Javier Vega.
"We didn't achieve our goal of winning the Olympic berth, but the way we saw the boys today makes me satisfied," confessed the coach, who has managed to consolidate the group by "squeezing" the individual strengths of each member. Regarding the performance, he agreed with the rest of the Cuban Archery Federation in recognizing Hugo's attitude throughout the competition.
Despite the complex personal situation due to the death of his father during the competition, the Pinar del Río native was an important pillar for the team to improve the national record in the 70-meter double backstroke.
"Here and in the Pan American Games in Santiago de Chile, he had to face difficult moments and showed dedication, discipline and love for his sport. He maintains great optimism to shoot arrows in the mixed team event and in the individual event, his last performances here," said Reiter, grateful to have him under his orders.
On Wednesday, Hugo obtained 674 units in the 70-meter double backstroke, to be only three strokes away from the Cuban individual record for that event, which he still holds.
In the team competition, the Cuban men achieved a 6-0 victory over Peru before losing to the Aztecs, who were also eliminated.
Only the winner of the continental event will qualify for next summer's competition in the French capital, so that possibility now appears on the horizon for the Canadians and Colombians, who will be in contention for the final scheduled for Sunday.
In the women's competition, the Cubans also got off to a good start. Larissa Pagan, Yailin Paredes and Maydenia Sarduy teamed up to defeat El Salvador 6-2, but a few moments later they lost with a similar scoreline against Brazil to say goodbye to the Olympic dream.
The Mexicans managed to advance to the title game, but as they have a safe place in the next edition under the five hoops, the tickets were left in the hands of the Americans, who complete the lineup for the final.
