FILIPINO archers Gabriel Moreno, Florante Matan, Rachelle Anne dela Cruz and Kareel Meer Hongitan all failed to nail Olympic spots in world archery’s final qualification event in Antalya, Turkey, yesterday.
Hongitan came closest to catching the Olympic bus after beating Bulgaria’s Marina Naidenova, 6-0, in the second round and Reena Parat of Estonia, 7-3, in the third. She fell to Britain’s Naomi Folkard in the fourth round.
London Olympian Dela Cruz tumbled out in the second round, losing to Mongolia’s Ariunbileg Nyan-jargal, 6-2.
Matan won over Phusawat Natthapom of Thailand, 6-2, and Jeff Heckles of Luxembourg, 7-3, but lost to Belarus’ Anton Prilepov, 6-5.
Moreno, the Youth Olympic Games mixed doubles champion, downed Serbian Luka Popovic, 6-5, but bowed to Gasper Strajhar of Slovenia, 6-2. June Navarro