YOG: PH archer Tagle, Estonian teammate near medal round

FILE – Nicole Marie Tagle. Photo from Philippine Sports Commission Facebook page

BUENOS AIRES—Archer Nicole Marie Tagle found a steady ally in Hendrik Oun of Estonia to move closer to the medal round of the mixed international team event Saturday in the 2018 Youth Olympic Games.

The 17-year-old pride of Dumaguete City where the country’s finest archers come from joined hands with Oun in sending the tandem of Isabela Bassi of Chile and Ravien Dalpatadu of Sri Lanka to the exit, 5-4, in a tight contest decided by a shoot-off in the round of 16.

Deadlocked after firing 16 arrows in four sets, Tagle and Oun had a combined output of 19 points after shooting an arrow each in the tiebreak where Bassi and Dalpatadu settled for a total of 17 points in front of a huge crowd at the Parque Sarmiento archery range here.

“Hendrik and I really shot well in the first three sets, but somehow struggled in the fourth,” said Tagle, the Southeast Asian Games silver medalist in the women’s individual recurve.

“Good thing we were able maintain our composure in the shoot off,” she added.

Ranked 13th after the 60-meter, 72-arrow ranking competition on Friday, Tagle and Oun will next face Alyssia Tromans-Ansell of Great Brittain and Reza Shabani of Iran in the quarterfinals of the Olympic round format.

The duo of Ansell and Shabani easily took out Himani Himani of India and Wian Roux of South Africa, 5-1, in their round-of-16 meeting.

“I hope to have another good round with my partner in the quarters,” said Tagle, who will face Tromans-Ansell late Monday in the round of 16 women’s recurve individual.

Gab Moreno made history after seizing a gold medal in the same event with China’s Li Jiaman during the 2014 Youth Games in Nanjing, China.

At the Club Nautico San Isidro, the lack of winds again canceled the men’s kiteboarding event for the second straight day where Filipino-Norwegian Christian Tioi is running fifth overall.

According to Philippine chef de mission Jonne Go, Tio will end up with his current ranking once another race cancelation happens on Sunday (Monday in Manila).

Golfers Yuka Saso and Carl Janno Corpus began their campaign in the mixed team event and fired a four-under 66 for a share of 16th place with Austria, France, Germany, Norway and the international mixed squad of Indonesia and South Korea.