‘S-HERTOGENBOSCH, Netherlands – Eric “the Clutch” Bennett led a strong performance for Team USA at the World Archery Para Championships this week. Joined on the Finals stage this morning by Timothy “Doorstop” Palumbo and Mike Lukow, the team was unstoppable.
The final between USA and Russia was a rematch of the recurve men’s open team gold medal match of the last world championships.
Two years ago, it was Russia that won, 6-2. But this time, it was the USA athletes who were more consistent. Smoking a 6-0 shut out, Team USA dominated the win.
“It was so fun,” shared Bennett. “Honestly, we’ve shot together so many times, we knew we had it. We were killing it in practice, we all trusted each other and just went out there, had a blast, had confidence and just smiled the whole time.”
On winning the rematch against Russia, Palumbo added: “That’s just the icing on the cake.”
Bennett then returned to the stage for the recurve open men’s individual world title against Malaysia’s Suresh Selvathamby. Bennett took an early lead, but then struggled throughout the rest of the match, finishing 7-3 with the silver.
“The result at the very end was a little bit disappointing because I really believed I could win this, but I still get to go home a world champion, with two medals,” shared Bennett. “No one else on the team can say that, so that’s pretty cool and I had a chance, which is pretty much all you can as for.”
Team USA also comes home with two Paralympic quota slots in the recurve open men’s division and the maximum three slots for the compound open men. Bennett shared: “I’m so happy about our slots and how the team performed. As a team, we looked really good.”
Competition begins tomorrow for the World Archery Championships. Complete results from the competition are available at www.worldarchery.org. The finals this weekend will be live at www.olympicchannel.com/live. For more, follow USA Archery on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
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