Canada claims four medals at Salt Lake City para world ranking event
Archery Canada – OTTAWA (Archery Canada) – Karen Van Nest of South Bruce Peninsula, Ont., claimed gold in women’s compound open on Sunday as the Canadian Para-archery team closed out its 2018 international season with four podium finishes at the Archery USA para world ranking event in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Archery Canada Website: www.archerycanada.ca/en
Complete Results: Salt Lake City 2018
Competing against athletes from the United States, Brazil, Puerto Rico and Singapore at the Easton Salt Lake Archery Center, Canada was represented by Van Nest and Shelby Smith of Lethbridge, Alta., in women’s compound, as well as Rhys Leidal of Cranbrook, B.C., Kyle Tremblay of Deep River, Ont., and Kevin Evans of Jaffray, B.C., in men’s compound.
Van Nest, who has worn the Maple Leaf at five Paralympic Games, including the past three as a member of the archery squad, defeated Smith in an all-Canadian women’s individual final, and added a silver medal with Evans in the mixed team competition.
The men’s team of Evans, Leidal and Tremblay rounded out Canada’s podium collection with a second-place finish.
“This event was a great success on a number of levels. We classified two new para athletes in Rhys and Shelby, and they fit into our team extremely well,” said Canadian coach Duncan Crawford. “Rhys was fortunate enough to win a silver medal in the men’s team event, with Kevin and Kyle, while Shelby placed second to Karen in the women’s individual competition.
“This end-of-season success is a great finish for our 2018 program and bodes well for things to come in 2019. It’s an exciting time for Para-archery in Canada.”
In women’s compound open, Van Nest and Smith, who is only 17, were seeded second and fourth at the end of the qualification stage after shooting 681 and 640, respectively.
Van Nest reached the gold-medal match with a pair of wins against American opponents, 142-45 over Angela Walker and 143-138 over third-seeded Teresa Wallace, while Smith advanced thanks to a 130-124 quarter-final victory against Martha Chavez of the USA and a 141-140 upset of top-seeded Nur Syahidah Alim of Singapore in the semis.
In the all-Canadian final, the veteran made good use of her experience to down her younger teammate by a dozen, 145-133.
On the men’s side, Leidal, Tremblay and Evans ended the individual compound open competition in sixth, seventh and ninth position, respectively, after placing sixth (673), 12th (656) and 11th (664) in qualification.
Leidal, who is also only 17 years old, earned a bye in the first elimination stage, while Evans and Tremblay had little trouble joining him in the next round, winning their initial sudden-death duels by 14 and 13.
The luck of the draw had Leidal and Evans, a three-time Paralympian, facing off in the round of 16, and the youngster prevailed 140-138. Tremblay also advanced to the quarter-finals with a 140-139 upset of Brazil’s fifth-seed Andrey Muniz De Castro.
Both Canucks would fall in the quarters however, Leidal dropping a 136-141 decision against American Sam Boyles and Tremblay losing 133-141 to eventual bronze medallist Richard Burkett, also of the USA.
In the men’s compound open team event, the trio of Evans, Leidal and Tremblay merited silver following a 220-224 defeat at the hands of host USA.
A similar fate awaited Canada in the mixed team final as Evans and Van Nest lost 145-149 to the United States duo.
CANADIAN RESULTS: 2018 SALT LAKE CITY PARA WORLD RANKING EVENT
Compound Women Open (individual)
Final Rankings
1. Karen Van Nest
2. Shelby Smith
Qualification
2. Karen Van Nest (681)
4. Shelby Smith (640)
Quarter-Finals
Karen Van Nest 142-45 vs. Angela Walker, USA (7th)
Shelby Smith 130-124 vs. Martha Chavez, USA (5th)
Semifinals
Karen Van Nest 143-138 vs. Teresa Wallace, USA (3rd)
Shelby Smith 141-140 vs. Nur Syahidah Alim, Singapore (1st)
Final
Karen Van Nest 145-133 vs. Shelby Smith
Compound Men Open (individual)
Final Rankings
6. Rhys Leidal
7. Kyle Tremblay
9. Kevin Evans
Qualification
6. Rhys Leidal (673)
11. Kevin Evans (664)
12. Kyle Tremblay (656)
Round of 32
Rhys Leidal – Bye
Kevin Evans 139-125 vs. Ronald Rispoli, USA (22nd)
Kyle Tremblay 139-126 vs. Jonathan Charlesworth, USA (21st)
Round of 16
Rhys Leidal 140-138 vs. Kevin Evans
Kyle Tremblay 140-139 vs. Andrey Muniz De Castro, Brazil (5th)
Quarter-Finals
Rhys Leidal 136-141 vs. Sam Boyles, USA (19th)
Kyle Tremblay 133-141 vs. Richard Burkett, USA (4th)
Compound Men Team
Final Rankings
1. USA
2. Canada
Final
Canada (Evans, Leidal, Tremblay) 220-224 vs. USA
Compound Mixed Team
Final Rankings
1. USA
2. Canada
Final
Canada (Van Nest, Evans) 145-149 vs. USA
About Archery Canada
Archery Canada is the National Sport Organization responsible for the promotion and development of the timeless sport of archery in a safe and ethical manner. Archery Canada supports the achievement of high performance excellence in archery in all categories and the development of a national archery infrastructure to promote archery participation across Canada in cooperation with the Provincial/Territorial Archery Associations.
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