KUALA LUMPUR—The Philippines ended its campaign in the compound event on a heart-breaking note after Paul Marton dela Cruz and Amaya Paz-Cojuangco lost in the semifinals of the 29th Malaysian Southeast Asian Games archery competitions Friday at Merdeka Square here.
Even worse, the Dela Cruz-Cojuangco tandem failed to wind up on the podium after losing to Vietnam’s Chau Kieu Kanh and Tien Cuong Nguyen, 156-159, in the bronze-medal match.
Prior to that, the Filipino duo led Myanmar’s Aung Ngaan and Ye Min Swe in the semifinal match only to see the Burmese rally to tie it at 154 all.
In the shoot-off, Dela Cruz and Ye Min Swe both shot 10s, but the latter’s arrow was closer to the bullseye, lifting the Myanmar tandem to the finals against eventual gold medalist Malaysia.
Seen quietly sobbing inside the Philippine tent after heart-breaking setback was Cojuangco, a two-time gold SEA Games gold medalist who won a silver in the 2015 Singapore edition but failed to medal for the first time in four stints in the regional meet.
“Walang istorya kasi natalo. Sorry po,” Cojuangco said.
The Filipino compound archers, who entered the tournament with rising expectations, wound up with two bronze medals, one courtesy of Dela Cruz and the trio of Earl Yap, Joseph Benjamin Vicencio and Dela Cruz in the men’s team compound.
This was lower than the one silver and the two bronzes that their predecessors took home in the Singapore SEA Games.
“We were surprised by the strength of the field here, especially Indonesia, which kept its training under wraps,” noted coach Clint Sayo of the Indons, who swept the men’s and women’s team compound events.
“All of these squads trained hard. But since archery is also a mental game, you have to maintain your calm under pressure. The other archers were more consistent in doing that,” Sayo, a gold medalist in the 1995 Thailand SEA Games, said.
“It’s all a matter of here and here,” said the coach, pointing to his heart and head.
Where the Philippine compound archers failed to deliver, their recurve counterparts aim to break the gold-medal drought when the competitions get going with the men’s and women’s team recurve contests at the National Sports School Synthetic Turf Field on Monday.