March 12, 2012

US Athlete Competes at Grand Prix

Monterrey, Mexico - The Mexican Grand Prix and Continental Championship were conducted last week in Monterrey. The tournament was held from March 5-11, and 420 archers from 11 countries were in attendance.  The Grand Prix had competition categories in both compound and recurve for adults, juniors, cadets and youth.  The Continental Championship for juniors and cadets had competition categories of recurve and compound for juniors, cadets and youth.  There were 3 separate competition ranges and a total of 127 target butts to accommodate the number of registered archers.

The Mexican Grand Prix was open to any archer competing in the listed categories and the Continental Championship is open to 4 archers (designated by the NGB of each country) in each category listed. Due to safety concerns, USA Archery elected not to send the previously registered JDT Red Team to the Monterrey event; however, one U.S. athlete, Matthew Zumbo (CA), attended this open international event with his coach, Dee Falks.

In the junior dvision of the Continental Championships for Juniors and Cadets, Zumbo finished fourth overall with a score of 1248 behind Oldair Zamora Lira (1275), Hector Sansores Cuevas (1256) and Ernesto Boardman Lopez (1250), all from Mexico.  He Zumbo qualified in 7^th place overall in the Mexican Grand Prix, earning a bronze medal at 50m with a score of 315 behind Oldair Zamora Lira (324) and Hector Smith (319). He also took a bronze medal at 30m with a score of 343 behind Ricardo A Vazquez N. (348) and Daniel Ramirez Caballero (344).

Zumbo also competed in the elimination rounds of the Mexican Grand Prix, open junior Olympic rounds, and the Continental Championship junior Olympic round.  He reached the quarterinals for each and was eliminated before reaching the semifinals. 

During the Continental Championship team and mixed team rounds, Zumbo won bronze medals in each event.  He was paired with archers from Argentina (ARG) and the Dominican Republic (DOM) for the Continental Championship team round.  They defeated the Argentina national team in the 1/4 round, and lost a close match to Mexico in the semifinals to move to the bronze medal match against Chile which they won in a close contest.

In the Continental Championship mixed team round Matt was paired with an archer from Columbia.  They were defeated in the semifinals by the Dominican Republic and moved to the bronze medal match against Argentina.  The composite team of Zumbo and Plazas won the match by a single point to earn the bronze.

Results from the Grand Prix are available by clicking here. 

Story contributed by Dee Falks; edited by USA Archery

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