Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 22) – Four young Filipino archers showed their gallantry in the world Olympic qualifiers in Paris, France despite failing to bag a ticket to the Tokyo Olympics.
Nineteen-year-old Monica Bidaure came out as the best performing Filipino archer in the four-day event after making it into the Round-of-16 on Monday.
The 36th seed registered a come-from-behind win over Bangladesh’s Mahanaz Monera, 6-4, in the first round. The Filipino archer sealed the match after winning the last two games, 27-23, 27-20.
In the second round, Bidaure stormed back again from a 2-0 deficit to stun fourth seed Asel Sharbekova of Kyrgyzstan. Bidaure won the last three games with the scores of 28-27, 23-21, 28-26.
Bidaure ended her Olympic chase in the third round after a 6-2 defeat against 13th seed Evangelia Psarra.
Monica’s older sister Pia, meanwhile, endured an upset 2-6 loss against Malaysia’s Nur Ain Fuzi. The Filipino was the tournament’s 17th seed while the Malaysian was the 48th seed.
The two Filipino archers also suffered the same fate as the older Bidaure with first round exits.
California-based standout Riley Silos was swept by Ukraine’s Heorhiy Ivanytsky, while Jason Feliciano lost to Sri Lanka’s Sajeev de Silva in a 2-6 tally.
On Sunday during the qualification round, Silos tallied a 7-3 win against Hong Kong’s Chun Kit Wang while Feliciano nailed a close 6-5 win against Swedish archer David Fredriksson to advance to the elimination rounds.
The Philippine archery quartet is still in Paris for the 2021 Archery World Cup Stage 3.
