Ottawa, ON (Archery Canada) – Canada’s recurve archers competed this past weekend at the season’s first World Cup in Medellin, Colombia. Canada’s delegation comprised of Virginie Chenier, as the sole woman, and four men, with Eric Peters, Brian Maxwell, Crispin Duenas, and Hamilton Nguyen. The team was looking for a medal in the Men’s Team event, and qualified for the Bronze medal match against Netherlands. The Netherlands won 5-4, after they completed a comeback win. Canada won the first 2 sets putting them in an early lead , however in the third and fourth sets the Netherlands fought back to force a tie break. Canada fell in the tie break by one point 28-27.

“Our team is taking shape for the World Championships and the team round performance will go a long way to help build our confidence,” said National Team Coach Shawn Riggs.  “The match against the Netherlands was solid, and our victory against the higher seeded team from Japan in the first round had some really great shooting as well.” Riggs was especially pleased with the result of Eric Peters, who had been competing in his first World Cup. “His 17th place result in the individual event was a success for his first world cup, and it was great to see him lead off the team round with a pair of tens.”  
 
The next event for the recurve team is just three weeks away with the Antalya world cup.  The team returning from Colombia will now take a few days to rest.  The team will be named for Antalya by the end of April.
 
The technical work for these athletes is done. The weeks leading in to the World Championships will focus on making our athletes mentally tough.