MANILA — Paul Marton de la Cruz and Amaya Amparo Cojuangco topped the mixed team compound event to give the Philippines its third gold medal at the conclusion of the 2018 Asia Cup-Stage 2 archery competition at the Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium on Wednesday.
The Filipino tandem outplayed top seeds Lin Che-Wei and Lin Ming-Ching of Chinese Taipei, 151-147, in the finals. India’s Mrinal Anil and Aman Saini defeated China’s Chen Na and Huang Wei, 151-149, for the bronze medal.
The mixed team gold medal was the third for De la Cruz, who also ruled the individual qualification and Olympic rounds. He won the silver in the compound team with Joseph Vicencio and Earl Benjamin Yap.
“I am so very happy with my performance here, winning three golds and one silver,” said the 31-year-old De la Cruz, a native of Talavera, Nueva Ecija.
Cojuangco, on the other hand, said the weather condition helped her win.
“I’m just thankful that the weather cooperated, zero wind and it’s cloudy. The weather made it easier for me to win,” said Cojuangco, who together with Jennifer Dy Chan and Andrea Robles, settled for the bronze medal in the team event.
Chinese Taipei’s Chen Yi-Hsuan, Huang I-Jou and Lin Ming-Ching won the compound women team gold medal over India’s Divya Dhayal, Mrinal Anil Hiwrale and Muskan Kirar, 225-221.
The other gold winners from Chinese Taipei were Wei Chun-Heng (recurve men qualification round), Chen Yi-Hsuan (compound women); Lo Hsiao-Yuan (recurve women); Lei Chien-Ying, Lo Hsiao-Yuan and Tan Ya-Ting (recurve women team); Jao Ting-Yu, Tang Chih-Chun and Wei Chun-Heng (recurve men team); and Chen Hsiang-Hsuan, Lin Hsin-Min and Lin Che-Wei (compound men team).
The 16-member Taiwanese squad also collected five silvers in the competition participated by 97 athletes from 13 countries.
The silver medalists were Tang Chih-Chun (recurve men); Chen Hsiang-Hsuan (compound men); Huang I-Jou (compound women); Lei Chien-Ying and Wei Chun-Heng (recurve mixed team); and Lin Che-Wei and Lin Ming-Ching (compound mixed team).
South Korea has two golds coming from Kim Kang-hyun (recurve men Olympic round) and Lee Ga-hyun and Seo Mingi (recurve mixed team) and four silvers courtesy of Seo Mingi (recurve men qualification round), Kang Subin (recurve women); Kim Kang-hyun, Seo Mingi and Son Jiwon (recurve men team); and Bang Hyun-ju, Lee Ga-hyun and Lee Seung-hui (recurve women team).
World Archery vice president Sanguan Kosavinta, World Archery Asia secretary general Sung-ho Um and WAP treasurer John Philip Orbeta presented the medals to the winner during the awarding ceremony. Also present was WAP secretary general Rosendo Sombrio.
Australia, Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, New Zealand, Thailand, Qatar and Malaysia also joined the tournament. The first leg of the Asia Cup was held in Bangkok, Thailand from March 2-9. Chinese Taipei will host the third and final leg from July 9-12. (PNA)
