PH Men’s Archery of Earl Benjamin Yap, Joseph Vicencio and Paul Marton Dela Cruz bags the Bronze medal at the 2017 SEA Games in KL, Malaysia. INQUIRER/ MARIANNE BERMUDEZ
KUALA LUMPUR—Joseph Benjamin Vicencio only had one thing on his mind in the bronze-medal match against Vietnam: “Don’t drag the team down.”
And it didn’t matter that a big part of the crowd at Synthetic Turf Field—a sprawling, artificial grass area designed specifically for archery at the heart of KL Sports City—had its eyes on the 21-year-old novice Filipino archer.
Vicencio, who was part of the men’s compound team event, was often in the large screen at the far end of the range. He was teased by teammate for being the “favorite of the camera.”
But it’s something that escaped the marketing senior at De La Salle University.
“I was very nervous, I kept thinking just make the shot and not drag the team down,” said Vicencio.
His managed to control the jitters and the Philippines, also composed of Earl Benjamin Yap and Paul Marton Dela Cruz, went perfect in the last two ends against Vietnam.
“I was being confident and tried to execute what we do in practice,” added Vicencio, who also won bronze in the recent US Open foreign division.
He picked up the sport to “get fit” and made the national team three years ago.
“I’m looking forward to more chances of playing for the country,” said Vicencio.