SANTIAGO, CL – It was a quieter day in Santiago, Chile. While the able-bodied Canadian archers had a day off, the Canadian para archers had their turn to be on the shooting line for individual matches. The temperature did not let up, making it another warm day.
Only two Canadian archers were in action today, both out of Manitoba. Chris Waterman started the day off against the number 1-ranked archer Cristian David Correa Alvaran from Colombia and while he shot some strong ends, he unfortunately dropped the match with a score of 132-127.
Rob Cox’s first opponent was Brazilian Reinaldo Vagner Charao Ferreira, who was ranked #3 after qualifications. He held onto a sturdy lead throughout the match and maintained it through to the final end, winning 137-135. With this win, he secured Canada an individual quota at next year’s Parapan Am Games. The next round, the quarter finals, saw Cox up against Omar Echeverria of Mexico. It was a tight score in the end, with Cox taking the win by a score of 137-136. This propelled him into the semifinals, allowing him a chance to shoot for his opportunity at a medal. Douglas Godfrey (USA) was awaiting the Canadian in the semifinal. Cox was unfortunately unable to come out on top in the end and lost the match 141-133. In the bronze medal match, Cox faced off against Correa Alvaran, the #1-ranked archer that his Canadian teammate Waterman faced in the ⅛ elimination round. Cox was unable to overcome the Colombian and finished the competition in 4th place.
“I’m glad we got our spot for next year,” comments Cox at the end of his matches. “That was the most important thing that we needed. Coming back after 12 years, it was good to be able to finish 4th. Team Canada worked well this year, I enjoyed working with the group. Linda [Price] did a good job helping me. Some of [the matches], I could’ve done better and others I felt done. There were two archers above me in the standings and I know one of them quite well, getting to be able to shoot with him was really cool. I got him by a couple of points so he wasn’t bad. The other [opponent], I believe he was from Brazil, I had a good match against him.”
Today concludes Canadian participation in the 2022 Parapan Am Championships. Tomorrow, in the able-bodied competition, Eleanor Brug and Devaang Gupta will step up to the shooting line for the recurve mixed team event and on Sunday, Brug will shoot her match for the bronze medal.
For all scores related to the Pan and Parapan Am Championships, click here: https://info.ianseo.net/?tourid=582
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