Cuban Archer Hugo Franco Secures Third Place at Pan American Archery Championships

Havana.- THE CUBAN GUY Hugo Franco secured third place today in the recurve bow at the Pan American Archery Championships in Medellín 2024, in Colombia.

“Tremendous day” was the opening phrase of his coach Reiter Téllez in the exchange with JIT, after a day marked by three successes for his pupil. The expression was justified, since among his victims was Nicholas D’Amour, from the British Virgin Islands, number 11 in the world ranking.

“He achieved impressive shooting averages, but more important was appreciating his incredible level of serenity and concentration,” praised the coach, although he still regrets that the places for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games escaped them.

Before the duel with D’Amour, decided with a score of 7-3 points, the captain of the Cuban team won the tiebreaker against his teammate Javier Vega. Next came the sweep (6-0) given to the Brazilian Mateus de Carvalho.

In the semifinals, Hugo starred in another close fight that was sealed with a 5-6 in favor of the Mexican Matías Grande, who needed the extra shot to advance to the battle for the scepter, set for next Sunday.

“The quota was not achieved and it hurts me more than anyone else, because I was well prepared and I did well,” said Hugo, now focused on the confrontation with the American Jack Williams that could open the doors of the podium for him.

«It has been a great sacrifice to get here. We have worked hard and we are going to fight for that medal,” added the most experienced of the active Cuban archers, without ignoring how complicated it has been to face the death of his father from a distance.

The continental competition has had a high competitive level. To illustrate this, it is enough to mention that the Brazilian Marcus D’Almeida and the American Brady Ellison, numbers one and two in the world ranking, did not manage to be included this time among the best eight.

Cuba was also represented in the individual competition by Juan José Santiesteban, eliminated in the round of 16 by Gabriel Anderson, from the United States, in a match that ended 1-7 points.

In the individual section for women, the Cubans Larissa Pagán and Yailín Paredes said goodbye in the round of 32. The Colombian Ana María Rendón defeated Larissa 6-2, while the American Catalina Gnoriega signed a 7-3 over Yailín.

Maydenia Sarduy, the other exponent of the Island, was unable to overcome her initial presentation, led 4-6 by Panamanian Emma Durán.

In the mixed team event, Larissa and Hugo opened with a 6-0 success over the British Virgin Islands, but then Canada (2-6) knocked them out of the prize fight.

2024-04-12 23:03:59
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