Leyre Fernández, at the gates of the Olympic square after beating the European record for junior teams | Huelva24

A year later than planned, after its cancellation in 2020 due to the pandemic, after the 2018 edition in Legnica (Poland), Antalya once again witnessed a great international event, the third in the last seven months, in this case the European Championship. The Asirio Club had two representatives in the National Team, Miguel Ángel Medina Orta in compound bow and Leyre Fernández Infante in recurve bow.

Qualifying Round

The competition started with the qualifying round, Miguel Angel Medina, that in recent weeks he has not been able to train as much as he wanted, he was aware that in this phase he was going to suffer, starting it in the area middle of the table, the large figures exhibiting an enviable state of form. Miguel Ángel, despite everything, knew how to keep the type and hold on to that middle zone, finishing this first part in the fifty-fourth position.

For his part, Leyre Fernández, who has been growing little by little in recent weeks, began the round in an extraordinary way, reaching sixth place in the first bars of this phase, later he would lower his level a bit occupying the twentieth place, despite everything an excellent qualifying of a very high level, where he beat his personal record for scoring in an official competition.

Playoffs

In this phase Miguel Ángel Medina was recovering sensations, finding in each shot more in tune with his bow and improving his scores, this led him to pass rounds until 1/24, where he had to face one of the favorites for the final victory, the Norwegian Anders Faugtas. The lepero made a great performance, demonstrating the quality that he treasures, going throughout the meeting on a par with his opponent. The end was a heart attack, such was the equality that the outcome was settled in the last arrows, finally Medina fell by just one point of difference, finishing thirty-third. Medina left very good feelings in the individual section, only that training deficit deprived him of going further in this European Championship.

For his part, Leyre continued with his level, which led him in this part of the competition to contest the 1/16, against which he defended the European title and number 22 in the world, the Turkish Jasmine Anagoz. The confrontation was very level, but the Turkish made use of her greatest experience and ended up beating the Huelva, who finished the European in the seventeenth position.

Team Competition

In compound arc the national team was made up of Ramón López, Jesús Jacinto Pérez and Miguel Ángel Medina. Qualifying placed the Spanish team in fourteenth place. Direct crosses weren’t easy at all, but ours were highly motivated. The three Spanish archers were very concentrates, especially lepero, this led them to defeat first powers such as almighty Holland and Switzerland. In the semifinals they played Turkey, one of the strongest teams in archery, before they fell in an even duel. Greece were the rival in the fight for the bronze, the Spanish very concentrated, took the initiative, but bad luck caused a strong wind to blow during this match, Not knowing how to choose the key moments to shoot the arrows, this circumstance was taken advantage of by the Hellenes, who ended up taking bronze by just three points. Miguel Ángel Medina was one of the driving forces behind this team who, with his energy and attitude, led them to overcome powerful teams. In the end, the compound bow selection finished fourth in Europe, an excellent result. The great performance of the three goalkeepers led them to exceed Spain’s record for scoring in team playoffs, 235 (out of 240 possible) showing the great level displayed by them.

In the recurve bow section, the three Spanish archers, Inés de Velasco, Elia Canales and Leyre Fernández They were outstanding during qualifying, proof of this is that they once again beat the European record for junior teams that they themselves had achieved just two months ago, being only surpassed by the very powerful Russia. During the qualifying rounds they managed to reach the quarterfinals, where they faced Denmark. In a tough confrontation, the Danes beat the Hispanics, leaving ours one step away from fighting for the medals. Remember that The women’s recurve bow national team is the youngest and the least experienced in the competition, This circumstance was key in the defeat suffered, since they still lack rapport and confidence to continue growing as a whole, something that will undoubtedly not take long to occur.

Pre-olympic tournament

In addition, the last continental quota tournament for the Olympic Games was also held, which distributed the last individual places for European teams that still had none for Tokyo. In this case, only the girls fought to get one of the four places available in the female category.

Leyre started as ninth seeded, thanks to the great qualification made by Huelva. From the In the first moment, she looked very fluid in her shot and did not give concessions to her opponents, getting to 1/8 of the final, where she met one of the favorites of the tournament, the French Melanie Gaubil. The meeting led him from the beginning Leyre, But the gala, with much more experience, knew how to take advantage of the opportune moments to finish beating the Spanish, who had to settle for the ninth final place and running out of options to get one of the four places that gave direct access to Tokyo.

In any case, the National Recurve Bow Team is marked in red on the calendar. the pre-Olympic tournament in Paris, which from June 18 to 21 It will distribute the last places by teams for the Olympic Games, and where Leyre, together with his teammates, hope to get the ticket for Tokyo 2020.