Archery gets underway in the Pan American Games

 
The Archery Competition of the 15th Pan American Games started on 24 July in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil with 64 archers from 14 countries. The organizing committee has built an excellent facility for the archers, the spectators and the media for the 5-day competition that will include a FITA Round to rank the archers, two days of individual eliminations and finals, and the team round on Saturday.   Archery was first included in the program of the Pan American Games in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 1979, and has been present in every single issue of the Games ever since. Past Pan American Games Champions include US archers Lynnette Johnson, Rodney Baston, Darrell Pace, Ruth Rowe, Denise Parker, Jay Barrs, Janet Dykman, Ed Eliason, Jason McKittrick, Jennifer Nichols and Victor Wunderle, as well as Cuba’s Yaremis Perez.   This time the competition is expected to be very tough, with several 1300-point archers on both sides of the field. The top ladies include a strong USA team with Jennifer Nichols, Karen Scavotto and Lindsay Pian, the Olympic qualified Colombians headed by Natalia Sanchez and Ana Maria Rendon, Mexico’s Aida Roman and Janet Garcia, as well as Marie-Pier Beaudet (CAN), Leydis Brito and Lisbeth Leoni (VEN) and Denisse Van Lamoen (CHI).   Canada and the United States have fielded the same men’s teams that recently qualified for the Olympics in Leipzig: Crispin Duenas, Hugh MacDonald and Jay Lyon (CAN), Victor Wunderle, Brady Ellison and Richard Johnson (USA). Other strong contenders come from Mexico: Juan Rene Serrano and Luis Eduardo Velez, Cuba: Juan Carlos Stevens, and Leonardo de Carvalho from the host country.   Ø      Results Ø      Photos   FITA will be represented at this event by its First Vice President Mr Paul Paulsen.   Sergio Font FITA Communication