Indian compound archers displayed a good showing at the 7th Fazza World Ranking Tournament at the Dubai Club for People of Determination grounds.
Shyam Sunder won the compound gold whereas the mixed team of Harminder Singh and Pooja won the compound gold in the mixed team. Rakesh defeated the 9th ranked archer of France in 1/8th matches ( 142/140), in the quarter-final defeated the number one ranked archer Atamanenk Serhiy from Ukraine( 142 vs 137).
In the semi-final, Rakesh defeated Agyan of Turkey, ranked no 5 by 143 vs 138. In the final, he defeated Shyam Sunder of India ranked 2 with a score of 143 vs 135.
In the Mixed Team Recurve event, India ( Harvinder & Pooja) defeated in the semi Final ranked 2 Ukraine team in a tiebreaker. In the finals, they defeated the ranked 1 Turkey team in a tiebreaker.
In the process, Shyam Sunder defeated former World No. 1 in Men's Compound Open Marcel Pavlik from Slovakia 145 vs 143 whereas Rakesh defeated Aryan Erdogan of Turkey another former medallist 143 vs 138. Jyoti defeated Dzhioeva Anastasia of Russia.
As many as 70 archers from 11 nations are competing in this year's Championships which will also mark the return of Para Archery action after a year. Dubai had hosted the last Para Archery Championships - the 6th Fazza Para Archery World Ranking Tournament in February 2020 before the Coronavirus Pandemic struck the world suspending or cancelling all sporting events.
This year's Championships, hosted under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mansoor bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Dubai Sports Council, has the participation from Algeria, France, India, Iran, Kazakhstan Roma, Russia, Slovakia, Turkey, Ukraine and the hosts the United Arab Emirates.
Among the top names are Iran London 2012 Paralympic medallist Zahra Nemati, former World No. 1 in Men's Compound Open Marcel Pavlik from Slovakia besides several Tokyo 2020 qualifiers and former champions.
While Turkey who claimed seven medals last year are here with a maximum of 14 players, the hosts the United Arab Emirates fielded 7 players.
India won the highest number of medals in the para-international tournament so far.
Gold medal- Recurve Mixed Team( Harvinder and Pooja), Compound Indv( Rakesh Kumar)
Silver medal - Compound Mixed Team( Shyam Sunder and Jyoti Baliyan), Compound Indv M( Shyam Sunder) & Women( Jyoti Baliyan)
Arjun Munda, President of, AAI expressed happiness on their performance and said that he is hopeful of them winning medals at the Paralympics. He also said that there are chances of Jyoti Baliyan and Pooja qualifying at the Czech World Ranking Tournament.
( With inputs from ANI )
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