OLYMPUS Archery Club bets Lawrence Ckheil Enecio and Ada Sophia Lagrada hogged the spotlight over the weekend, sweeping the men’s and women’s individual recurve Olympic round event of the second leg of the 18th Philippine Archery Cup at the STI Gold Toe Archery Range in Marikina.
Enecio, who finished fourth in the qualifying round, shut out Girven Cullen Nigel 6-0 (29-26, 27-26, 23-22) to bag the gold medal after earlier upsetting national team member Jason Emmanuel Feliciano 6-4 (27-25, 25-28, 25-26, 26-25, 28-27) in the semifinals.
A University of Baguio Cardinals mainstay, Feliciano had earlier scored 626 points in topping the 72-arrow qualifying round and loomed as the favorite in the three-day competition organized by World Archery Philippines.
Lagrada continued to assert her mastery over national team member and 2021 Vietnam Southeast Games gold medalist Gabrielle Monica Bidaure 6-4 (25-25,26-25, 21-28, 22-22, 25-22) after upending the Dumaguete Archery Center standout at the same venue two months ago.
Pia Elizabeth Bidaure, Gabrielle’s elder sister, also ruled the women’s 72-arrow qualifying stage with a top score of top 607 points but suddenly lost steam and got eliminated in the quarterfinals of the Olympic round by UB’s Shanylle Samson 0-6 (16-20, 18-23, 19-22).
Archery Dream Club’s Andrea Lucia Robles had a steady hand and eye in sweeping both women’s compound qualifying and Olympic rounds, capped by a 142-138 win over 2019 SEA Games mixed team gold medalist Rachelle Anne dela Cruz of the BENEL Archery Club.
Andrei Johann Olano completed a golden double for the BENEL Archery Club in the men’s compound Olympic round by edging fellow team member Arnold Rojas 142-140 in the finals.
WAP secretary general Dondon Sombrio said the surprise results and upsets only showed “that our national archers cannot be complacent and rest on their laurels because there are many athletes who are hungry, talented and eager to take their place if they are not looking.”
In other results, the UB Cardinals tandem of Feliciano and Damariz Gabrielle Calera and Feliciano captured the gold medal in the recurve mixed team event while the husband-and-wife tandem of Paul Marton and Rachelle Anne dela Cruz topped the compound mixed team event, respectively.
