DONAUESCHINGEN, Germany - Team USA picked up a major five Paralympic quota slots at World Archery Para Championships in individual eliminations bringing the nation's total up to nine.
Eric Bennett (Surprise, Arizona), seeded 8th upset No. 1 Bato Tsydendorzhiev of Russia in the quarterfinals with a decisive 7-1 victory. He went on to outshoot Iran's Gholamreza Rahimi 7-3 in the semifinals and sealed his place in the gold final this weekend.
Along with Bennett's recurve men open quota slot here and the one he clinched in Toronto, Timothy Palumbo (Buffalo, New York) earned the U.S. a third in an upset of Great Britain's Paul Browne in the 1/16th.
Kinga Kiss-Johnson (McCormick, South Carolina) nabbed a recurve slot for the women in addition to Natalie Wells' (Manteca, California) Parapan Am Games win with a 6-0 victory in the 1/16th round.
Paralympic gold medalist Jeff Fabry (Lemoore, California), who solidified two W1 slots with Lia Coryell (LaCrosse, Wisconsin) in the mixed team event, was shockingly upset early in the quarterfinals by John Cavanagh of Great Britain 136-134.
Andre Shelby (Jacksonville, Florida) and Ben Thompson (Ladson, South Carolina) two quota places for the USA in the compound men's open competition. The two beat Poland's Marek Kantczak and Aleksander Zubar, of Russia, respectively, in the 1/16th elimination.
Matt Stutzman (Salt Lake City, Utah) rounds out the compound men's trio who will shoot for gold in the finals this weekend, was the first of the three eliminated - ranked 4th, Stutzman was upset in a shoot off by No. 29 Gianpaolo Cancelli of Italy. Both shot 10s, but Cancelli's was closer to the center for the win to advance.
Janice Walth (Lodi, California) had a bye into the gold final for VI 1 and will also compete in the finals this weekend.
Competition resumes tomorrow with team and mixed team finals where U.S. archers will be shooting for two gold and 2 bronze medals. Complete schedule and results can be found here. For updates from the field, follow USA Archery on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
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