Peters holds strong through to another top 8 finish at the Paris World Cup
Paris, FR – Following a quick turnaround from the 2023 World Championships in Berlin Germany, Team Canada was back on the archery range to compete at the final World Cup stop of the season, in Paris, France.
A team of 5 archers consisting of Eric Peters (ON), Crispin Duenas (ON), Devaang Gupta (ON), Kristine Esebua (ON) and Alexander Ignatius (BC) all took to the field in Paris.
“The Canadian team was very excited for the last World Cup in Paris” said Soha Mahmoud, coach at this event. “Group morale and confidence was high, especially following Eric’s Silver Medal performance in Berlin.”
In qualification, Gupta shot a personal best score of 679, seeding him 14th overall at this event. Peters continued to shoot strong, qualifying in 24th with a score of 674. Rounding off the men, Sr. Team veteran Crispin Duenas finished his qualifying round in 43rd with a final score of 667.
Krisitne Esebua, the sole female at this event, came in strong, with a qualifying score of 658, seeding her in 22nd. All recurve archers progressed straight to the 1/64th round of matches, with all moving forward to the 1/32 round.
Moving into the individual elimination matches day, all of the Canadian Men continued to shoot strong but unfortunately faced tough opponents. Gupta fell to Felix Wieser of Germany with a final score of 6-0. Duenas, facing Jesus Flores of Mexico, had a come back battle, forcing a fifth and final end, before falling to the Mexican with a final score of 6-4.
Peters maintained his form and performance from Berlin, defeating Kwok (HKG), Wieser (GER), Su (TPE) and Abdullin (KAZ) to progress to the 1/4th round, and secure a spot in the Top 8. Facing the top qualifier of the event, Lee Woo-seok of Korea, Peters stayed strong, tying the Korean at 28 in two ends. The Korean edged out Peters with a final score of 6-2
Ignatius, making his National Team debut, and the sole compound archer at this event, finished his qualification round with a final score of 683. Unfortunately he missed progressing to the elimination matches by (1) point.
Team Rounds
Following their strong performances in the qualification rounds, Peters, Duenas and Gupta, having qualified as a team in 7th, received a Bye, straight to the 1/8th round where they faced Team Italy.
“All of our men did well today, and worked well to achieve the 5-3 win over Italy to progress through to the Quarter Finals” said Alan Brahmst, High Performance Director and Team Manager at the Paris World Cup. “ We now progress to the Quarterfinals to meet with the number 2 seed, against Team India”.
The Canadians struggled a bit against the India team, falling in 3 sets with a final score of 5-1.
Gupta and Esebua then met up for the Mixed Team Event, ranking in 12th position, and facing team Uzbekistan, seeded 21st. Team Canada sweeped team Uzbekistan in 3 ends, with a final score of 6-0, pitting them against Team China in the 1/8th round. Though shooting strong, and tying on two ends, the Canadian team fell with a final score of 6-2.
Team Canada now prepares themselves for the Pan American Games, which is the next Paris 2024 qualification event, to be held in Santiago, Chile from Oct. 20 – Nov. 5th 2023
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