SEA Games: PH Archers pluck bronze out of semis heartache

PH Archery Team gets second bronze medal in the SEA Games. Photo by Marc Reyes

KUALA LUMPUR — The Philippine men’s archery team bucked a heartbreaking defeat in the semifinals to salvage a bronze medal Thursday in the 29th Southeast Asian Games at Synthetic Turf Field in KL Sports City here.

The trio of Earl Benjamin Yap, Joseph Benjamin Vicencio and Paul Marton Dela Cruz destroyed Vietnam, 233-230, in the bronze medal match to clinch the country’s second bronze in compound events.

Starting off hot with a 236-214 win over Myanmar in the eliminations, the Filipinos all of a sudden went cold in the semifinals, turning in 227 points against Singapore’s 233.

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“That happens, when suddenly the opponent shoots very well,” said Dela Cruz who on Wednesday won bronze in individual category.

But Yap rued the fact that the Philippines’ 236 showing in eliminations — the highest score of the day — suddenly turned sour in the semis.

“That (PH semis score) was the lowest score for us even in practice,” said Yap who owns the Benel Archery Club in Mandaluyong.

Still, the team managed to cut its losses and destroyed the Vienamese after coming perfect in the final two ends.

Vietnamese were even led by last SEAG’s gold winner Nguyen Tien Cuong but just could not find their range.

“I didn’t expect they (Vietnamese) would shot like that in the bronze medal match,” said Yap.

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“But we are happy with bronze, hopefully tomorrow we will win gold in mixed,” said the 30-year-old Dela Cruz.

The top scorer in individual and team events will automatically be entered in Friday’s mixed compound.

The women’s compound team of Amaya Paz-Cojuangco, Abbigail Tindugan and Jennifer Chan dropped in the eliminations against Thailand, 222-215.