NOVE MESTO, Czech Republic – Candice Caesar and Karen Sternfeld produced an incredible performance as they claimed bronze at the Para Archery World Ranking Event in the recurve women open doubles on Friday, defeating Iran in a shoot-off.
Iran went into the contest as the favorites, the pairing of Marzieh Tafazzoli and Somayeh Rahimi Ghahderijani combining for almost 250 points more than the USA duo during individual qualification, ranking them as second seeds.
But the USA team had shown in their quarterfinal shoot-off win over Italy that they were stronger together and would compete all the way through, and that is what they did in their medal match with Iran.
Caesar and Sternfeld won the first end, only for Iran to fight back with scores of 27 and 34 to leap into a 4-2 lead. As they had against Italy, the US pair posted their best score of the match (32) to level the contest and take it into a two arrow shoot-off.
Shooting first, Iran began with an eight. The US grabbed the initiative with a nine from their first arrow. They then simply needed to hit the target after their opponents could only muster a one from their second shot. Making sure with a seven, the USA won the shoot-off 16-9 for a 5-4 win.
Caesar will be on the line for the Rebel Gear Buckeye Classic, the fourth and final USAT Qualifier Series event of the year, which takes place in Dublin, Ohio from July 26-28. She will be joined there by Tracy Otto, KJ Polish and Jordan White, who will be using it as a final tune-up ahead of the Paralympic Games in Paris, which get underway at the end of August.
Early registration for the Buckeye Classic runs through July 5, with the registration deadline being July 12. Also note that no coach credentials will be sold on site. All purchases need to be made in advance with registration closing for those on July 19.
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