PILSEN, Czech Republic – Michael Lukow came through one round of elimination on Wednesday in the recurve men open to set up an all-USA meeting with Kevin Mather at the World Archery Para Championships.
Lukow joins Kevin Mather and Eric Bennett in the 1/24 round of the recurve men open following a 7-1 win over Georgia’s Zviad Dumbadze in his 1/48 elimination round match.
Mather is seeded 13 after shooting 624 during qualification. Bennett fired 615, which was good enough for 17th seed. Mather will next face Lukow on Thursday, whereas Bennett tackles Setiawan Setiawan of Indonesia.
Bennett and Mather will team up in the recurve men open doubles. They are sixth seeds and await the winner of Mongolia and Azerbaijan in the last 16. Those elimination rounds will be played out on Friday.
Jason Tabansky finished eighth in men W1 open qualification after shooting 644, and then won through 130-117 in the 1/16 elimination round over Romania’s Bogdan Raicu. He will next tackle ninth seed Paolo Tonon (ITA) on Thursday. Teammate Lucas Herro came up short in his 1/16 contest, losing 131-108 to Christopher Davis (AUS).
Tabansky and Herro are fifth seeds in the men W1 doubles. They meet host nation Czech Republic on Friday in the last eight.
Kevin Polish and Teresa Wallace got past Ukraine and Turkey in the compound open mixed team competition, before losing to Great Britain in the last eight.
In the recurve open mixed team division, Mather and Candice Caesar lost their 1/12 round 5-4 after a shoot-off with Australia. Tabansky and Tracy Otto were edged 129-126 by the Czech Republic in the W1 mixed team at the quarterfinals stage.
The World Archery Para Championships is the most significant of all the qualifying events for next year’s Paralympic Games in Paris, with 78 of the 140 total spots up for grabs.
