24 March 2010 - Natalia SANCHEZ wins gold in the Olympic Round at the South American Games

Natalia SANCHEZ wins gold in the Olympic Round at the South American Games Medellín – 24 March 2010 Medals were awarded in the Individual Olympic Round at the South American Games held in Medellín, Colombia.  The two days of Individual Olympic Round of the South American Games witnessed several surprises which included the gold medal winners, except for World Championships bronze medallist Natalia SANCHEZ (COL, right) who won the Women’s Recurve category as she defeated her teammate Sigrid ROMERO (109-105). Veteran Denise VAN LAMOEN (CHI) took the bronze.   Bernardo OLIVEIRA, the young Brazilian who had won the FITA Round in the men’s recurve, missed the target in his first semifinal end and was not able to advance to the gold medal match. Another very young archer from the host country: Daniel PACHECO, took advantage of OLIVEIRA’s miss and moved on to beat his teammate Diego TORRES (110-97) for the gold. OLIVEIRA showed he is a very promising archer and took the bronze.   In the most exciting match, Nely ACQUESTA (BRA) beat Venezuela’s favorite Luzmary GUEDEZ in a two-arrow shoot-off to break a tie at 114 points. Both archers shot a 10 in the first shoot-off, but GUEDEZ had a bad shot with an 8 to open the door for her opponent to win Brazil’s only gold medal in the Olympic Round. Another archer from Brazil, experienced Dirma Miranda DOS SANTOS edged Betty FLORES (VEN) by two points to win the bronze.   Three Brazilians, including Roberval DOS SANTOS, advanced to the semifinals together with Nelson TORRES from Venezuela. The Brazilians were expected to win all the medals, given their quality and the relative inexperience of their only opponent. TORRES, however, broke all the expectations and defeated Marcelo RORIZ (117-115) in the semifinals, and then Claudio CONTRUCCI in the gold medal match (114-110). DOS SANTOS left the field without a medal, as he lost to RORIZ (115-117).   You will find the results of the South American Games 2010 here and a photo gallery here. Please visit also the organisers' website: www.medellin2010.org.       Sergio FONT COPARCO / FITA