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Mexico's Grande makes most of home advantage, into final four at Puebla 2026

10 April 2026

Puebla, Mexico

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Matias Grande pointing to his winning arrows after booking a place into the final fours at Puebla 2026.

Matias Grande survived a tight shootoff before an emphatic 6-0 win in the quarterfinals to reach the recurve men final fours on home Mexican soil at Puebla - the first stage of the 2026 World Cup.

The 21 year old archer began the morning session at Parque del Arte against reigning World champion Andres Temiño Mediel, with the Spaniard's lower-than-usual 26th seed making what is meant to be an easier 1/16 round for seventh seed Grande that little bit more dangerous.

He had to be on the ball from the very first arrow and after losing the first end 29-27, the Olympian went 28, 28, 29, 29 to beat Mediel 6-4.

If that hadn't been more dramatic for the nervy watching Mexican crowd, packed in the stands, Grande then was forced into winning a shoot-off against India's Dhiraj Bommadevara, who was impressive in his own right, dropping two perfect 30 ends in the match.

“Any archer can win, like it was not necessary to think maybe he's [Bommadevara] good or not,” said the 2025 Pan American Indoor gold medallist on his performance. “I think we have both the same quality, but also I think the home soil helped me a little bit. The crowd fuelled me with a lot of energy.”

“I think that I was appreciating that and also being very focused because sometimes all those emotions, maybe we do some bad things with a lot of emotions, even if they are good emotions, but I feel really good.”

“I have worked a lot for this moment and I feel very relaxed.”

Grande's last match of the day, which booked him into Sunday, was a far more comfortable 6-0 against Aldar Tsybikzhapov, but a string of high quality scores from him and his fellow competitors on another beautiful day in central Mexico wasn't a coincidence.

Brady Ellison, Matias Grande and Andres Temiño Mediel on the shooting line at Puebla 2026.

A wind that has changed directions has caused problems for all archers involved this week but with it calming down just a tad and clear skies once again, there was a sharp increase in accumulative 150s in compound and 30-point sets in recurve.

There were however aggressive thunder and lightning storms in Puebla on Wednesday and Thursday night but luckily for all they have skipped the daytime and Grande was as appreciative of the fine shooting conditions as he was for the pre-World Cup camp in Puebla Mexico completed before Tuesday.

“I think being a few days before the competition, it's very important because we know the wind, we know where to aim.”

“Also it didn't rain, thank goodness. I think it's better for everyone because I think a competition is great when archers are shooting good, like very top scores.”

“I ended up 7th, but I think the air was struggling for more than one archer. Andres Temiño Mediel is a world champion and he was ranked a little bit low.”

“The air was very strong, so it does that to the archers.”

Grande shall face the defending World Cup Brady Ellison on Sunday and is looking to keep intact a rare unbeaten record in individual matches against the all-time great.

The world number three has defeated the American in their two encounters, one at Madrid 2025 - the fourth stage last year - which eventually became his maiden World Cup stage triumph.

A second gold on the circuit at home though would absolutely mean more.

That enticing matchup takes place on Sunday before the first finals in Puebla which occur on Saturday, beginning with compound finals.