BANGKOK, Thailand - Team USA has sent a mix of seasoned Paralympic archers and strong, up and coming international competitors to the 2013 World Archery Para Championships. Paralympic Champion and three-time Paralympic medalist, Jeff Fabry started out the qualification round with a new world record in the compound men's W1 category.
Fabry will shoot for gold in a tough match against No. 2 seed, Antonios Jean Pierre (FIN). Team USA will also compete for some serious hardware in the team finals. The compound women, Martha Chavez, D'Arce Hess, and Ashlee Sheppard will shoot for gold against the Russian Federation, and the No. 6 seeded compound men, Fabry, Jeff Sena and Lance Thornton, will battle for the bronze against Slovakia.
Sheppard had a 5th place qualifying score and was poised well heading into eliminations. She shot well against strong competitors for several matches until a surprising upset in the 1/8th by No. 21 seed, Larysa Mikhnieva (UKR).
Looking forward to Rio 2016, the recurve women had standout performances with newcomer, Kinga Kiss-Johnson placing 10th in her first world-ranking event. Paralympian Lee Ford qualified 14th and then improved scores through eliminations to upset No.3 seed, Oyun-Erdene Buyanjargal (MGL) to make it as far as the quarterfinals.
Fabry's teammates, Charles Lear and Jerry Shields also qualified high, 10th and 13th respectively, for a team ranking of 6th.
The recurve standing men both had top 20 finishes, with Michael Lukow qualifying 14th and Timothy Palumbo 18th. Palumbo upset Esio Luvisetto (ITA) in the 1/16th elimination before falling to No.2 seed, Alexandre Lasvenes (FRA).
The US recurve mixed open team, seeded 13th faced No.4 Poland in their first match. Although the duo, down eleven points after two sets, shot strong finishing scores, they were only able to reduce the deficit to two points. The compound mixed open team, seeded 6th, easily made it through their 1/8th match, but fell in the quarterfinals to No.3 seed, Italy.
Tough heat conditions and surprising upsets played a role in other US match outcomes; but an overall outstanding performance so far bodes well for the finals, which begin tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. local time (2:00 a.m. EST on Wednesday, November 6).
Watch live scores here: http://www.worldarchery.org/en-us/worldchampionships/para-bangkok2013/livescores.aspx and follow @usaarchery on Twitter, and USA Archery on Facebook and
Google Plus, for reports throughout the event. Join the online conversation
about the event by hashtagging #WAPC2013, and cheer for your favorites!
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