Roman, Diya shoot into finals
Bangladesh's Roman Sana and Diya Siddique stunned their more adept Indian counterparts to reach the recurve individual event finals of the 3rd ISSF International Solidarity Archery Championships at the Shaheed Ahsan Ullah Master Stadium in Tongi yesterday.
Bangladesh will now vie for gold in five events -- men's recurve individual, women's recurve individual, men's recurve team, men's compound team and women's compound team events -- today.
The tournament's top-ranked archer, Roman, carried his fine form from qualification to reach the recurve men's individual final as he easily beat India's Bishal Changmai by 6-2 set points in the semifinals. Although Roman lost the first set, he bounced back strong to win the next three sets and ensure an encounter in the final against Thailand's Denchai Thepna, who beat India's archer Reza Shabani by identical 6-2 set points in the other semifinal.
However, other Bangladeshi archers -- Hakim Ahmed Rubel, Tamimul Islam and Emdadul Haque Milon – failed to progress. Rubel lost to India's Bishal by 0-6 set points, Tamimul lost to India's Reza by 4-6 set points and Kazakhstan's Andrey Kuzmin defeated Milon by 7-1 points.
In the women's recurve individual event, the unheralded Diya was steadfast in competing against a superior opponent and secured her first-ever final berth at the international level.
Diya won a nerve-wracking tiebreaker after the semifinal was locked at 5-5 with Iran's Parmida Ghassemi hitting eight against Diya's nine. Earlier, Diya recorded a 7-3 win over Iran's Niloofar Alipoor in the quarterfinals. Bangladesh's Hera Moni had won a gold medal in the same event during the inaugural edition of the championships.
Diya will now face another Iranian archer, Shojamehr Shiva, who reached the final by defeating India's Bari Komalika in a tiebreaker after the match finished in a 5-5 deadlock.
Although Diya confirmed her spot in the final, teammates Beauty Roy, Ety Khatun and Nasrin Akter had to quit the race from either the first or the second round.
During the last edition, Bangladesh won gold medals in the men's and women's compound individual events, however, the hosts were unable to defend those titles this time.
Holder Ashim Kumar Das was eliminated from the second round after losing to Chinese Taipei's Lin Chu Wei by 141-148 points while Milon Molla and Abul Kashmem Mamun also lost to their respective rivals in the second round.
In the women's compound individual event, Bonna Akter and Susmita Banik were eliminated from the semifials. Bonna gave the tournament's top-ranked Kristina Heigenhauser a run for her money but the German eventually won by 141-139 points while Susmita lost to India's Isha Ketan 140-144.
However, Bangladesh did win three bronze medals in the compound mixed, recurve mixed and men's compound individual events yesterday.