Asian Archery Championship 2017: Mamun finishes seventh despite early promise

Bangladesh's last hope in the senior individual events of the Asian Archery Championship 2017 in the shape of Abul Kashem Mamun ended when he lost to gold medalist Abhishek Verma in the compound men's quarter-finals Wednesday morning but the 24-year old's seventh-place finish earned the host their best result in the event. Meanwhile, the country's young archers put up promising displays in the Asia continental qualifiers for the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in the afternoon. Radia Akter Shapla was placed among the top three in the qualification round before seeing the exit door in the quarters while Ibrahim Sheikh Rezwan finished fourth in the ranking round but ended sixth overall after exiting from the last-eight. Both Shapla and Rezwan also featured in the senior recurve events in the Asian Archery Championship. The youngest male archer in the Bangladesh contingent, Mohammad Sakib Molla and Hakim Ahmed Rubel were ranked jointly at ninth while Rabeya Khatun and the youngest member, Ety Khatun, and Rabeya also finished at the same positions.

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Also read: Bangladesh women archers rule the roost

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Mamun would have won gold in the compound men's individual event if he had repeated Tuesday's feat. Mamun, who recorded his best ever score (149) in the 1/16 elimination round the previous day, scored 141 against Indian archer Verma's 148. Verma went on to win gold beating a couple of South Korean archers in the semi-final and final. The finals of the four individual recurve and compound events were held at Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka Wednesday where South Korean archers Lee Seungyun and Lee Eun Gyeong won gold in the men's and women's recurve event respectively while the other South Korean, Song Yun Soo, bagged gold in the compound women's individual event. The gold deciding matches of the four team events will be held Thursday before which Bangladesh will play in the quarter-finals of three events, except the recurve women’s category. The men's teams of the recurve and compound events have little prospect of progressing further as they will face tough opponents from South Korea while the compound women's team have a better chance against Chinese Taipei.

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Also read: Expectation, obstacle and reality of Bangladesh archers

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Bangladesh team’s total was 2022 in the ranking round while Chinese Taipei had 23 points more. Bangladesh coach Ziaul Hoque informed that they lost to the same opponent early this year in a continental competition in Thailand. He said, "We lost there despite putting a good fight. Let's see how the girls do [Thursday]." Regarding the young duo, he added, "Shapla played really well according to her ability but I expected a little more from her while Ibrahim was third at one point before finishing fourth."