Last Thursday started the Spanish Indoor Archery Championship, in the coastal town of Marina D´or (Castellón). The first to jump onto the mat were the promotion categories, under 14, cadet and junior. The Assyrian Club attended this event with a wide representation, 25 archers of which 11 were men and 14 women, and among whom were several favorites for the final victory.
The qualifying round went as planned for us. Those from Huelva continued with their good work in the direct crosses. In < 14 years Marta Aznar and one of the surprises of the championship, the very young Sandra Pérez (12 years old) surpassed all her rivals in an extraordinary way, risking victory in a completely Assyrian final. Although initially it was Sandra who took her initiative, Marta, with more experience, knew how to react in time and ended up beating her partner, proclaiming herself Champion of Spain.
This was not the only joy of the afternoon, in the junior category, Leyre Fernandez, who was comfortably overcoming rivals, reached the final with her teammate and Olympic teammate, Inés de Velasco from Madrid. The meeting was of a high level and very even, so much so that it was necessary to resort to the tiebreaker arrow, Leyre demonstrating her mental strength, beating her partner and friend, and achieving this national wound for the third time.
Senior
In the senior categories we also had representation, another 25 archers, 13 men and 12 women. On Friday, the compound bow modality began, in which Miguel Angel Medina, Agustin Rodriguez Sr. and Jose Saavedra. It was not our day, since the only one who made the cut was Agustín Rodríguez in twentieth place. In the qualifiers he shot with confidence and reached the round of 16, a round in which he was eliminated by the meager difference of one point against.
The last of the categories in dispute was the recurve bow, where we also had high hopes of getting a medal. From the beginning the archers Christopher Gomez in the men’s division and Leyre Fernández in the women’s were in the lead, with the young Martha Aznar very close.
During the qualifiers Marta also showed a great level, falling in the quarterfinals against the number three seed, finishing in the final eighth place, a magnificent result. For her part, Cristóbal, lacked some luck, since it was too long and ended up lowering the intensity somewhat, which was decisive for her to fall in the round of 16. The last of our athletes in contention, Leyre Fernández continued to shoot spectacularly, this took him to the final. The fight for gold was against the Catalan Elia Canales, partner of Huelva in the CARD in Madrid and in the national team. The meeting was of a high level and balanced, although Leyre proved to be the strongest, only a small mistake at the last moment, allowed his opponent to tie the match. The winner had to decide on the tiebreaker, which fell on the Catalan side for a small difference, so Leyre had to settle for the silver medal.
regional teams
The Andalusian under-14 mixed team was formed by the Assyrians Antonio Domínguez and Marta Aznar. Both athletes scored at a high level, this led them to overcome powerful teams, winning the bronze medal in this competition.
In junior compound bow, the archers Adrián Santos and Miriam Arenas from Malaga performed a great competition, which led them to obtain the Spanish Sub-Championship.
In this case they were part of the Andalusian women’s group under 14 years of age, Leticia Romero, Marta Aznar and Luna Pérez. The three shot in an outstanding way, beating all their opponents, taking the fully deserved gold.
The male group of minors was made up of Guillermo Fernández, Antonio Domínguez and Pablo Ramírez, from Seville, which, despite throwing sensationally, had to settle for bronze.
A junior Agustin Rodriguez, Agustin Puerta, and Javier Cuenca, who competed masterfully, managed to reach the final beating high-level opponents. In the confrontation for the gold, despite scratching at great height, they had to settle for the silver medal.
The last to compete were the members of the senior team Cristina de Guzman, Marta Aznar and Leyre Fernandez, obtaining the last of the medals for the Andalusian team, a bronze that knows little due to the level displayed by the three goalkeepers from Huelva.
Spain record
The level demonstrated by the components of the Assyrian expedition culminated in the achievement of two Spanish records, on the one hand, the representatives of the mixed team of children under 14 Antonio Dominguez and Marta Aznar and on the other the components of the women’s team of the same category formed by Leticia Romero, Luna Pérez and Marta Aznar.
The contribution of the Assyrian Club to the Andalusian National Team with eleven medals, has been essential to place our region as the second in the final medal table, surpassing autonomies with much more budget and means, both technical and human, such as Balearic Islands, Valencian Community or Catalonia, being surpassed only by the almighty Community of Madrid.
All these data do no more than indicate that the line of work followed in Huelva is the ideal one and that although the number of podiums achieved seems somewhat normal, it is not at all easy to win the prize in national competitions, where the level displayed by all the participants is very high, but where little by little Asirio is becoming one of the reference clubs in Spain, both in organization and in operation, an example for many other national entities that want to progress in this sport. Much of the blame for these successes lies with the technicians who train these athletes, who make sacrifices beyond what is required of them, all for the good of archery in Huelva.
The board of directors of Asirio appreciates the support that the Junta de Andalucía, Huelva City Council, Provincial Council and Huelva Port Authority have had with the club, without it it would have been impossible to reach the level shown by Huelva athletes in recent years.
