Sara wipes memory of bad Shanghai ’14 clean with impressive ’15 final

Shanghai 2015 saw two of Americas most prominent compound women go head to head in the highlight match of the day: Colombia’s Sara Lopez and Linda Ochoa from Mexico. 

Both made the Lausanne 2014 Archery World Cup Final. Lopez won it. 

Ochoa was keen to make the most of her return to the arena in Shanghai. 

“I was aiming for 145 or more and I got just that,” she explained. “After a slow start to the week, I got better and better; more confident. That’s what I got to the finals. 

During the middle end, Linda really hit her stride: three straight 10s, a perfect 30 and some appreciation from the crowd. 

The problem was, Lopez had been clean since the start. It took 12 arrows for her to finally put one out of the 10-ring and, at that stage in the match, she’d already amassed a three-point lead. The nine got a bigger reaction from the crowd, a groan, as Sara smiled the smile of someone who was still ahead.

She got her arrows back in the 10, finished with a 30 for a 149 total and took gold at Shanghai 2015. 

It removed something of a bitter taste for the young Colombian. Last year she made the same final, lining up opposite Korean Choi Bomin. In the rain, Sara had an equipment malfunction and put her first few arrows off the face. It was a non-contest, the Korean won. 

Walking back onto the field a year later, she admitted to having flashbacks of the, understandably, traumatic experience.

“I tried to forget about it and focus on my shooting here,” she said. “I don’t want people to remember my performance here for that final. I want them to remember this year.” 

Something of a trophy collector in her three years shooting internationally, time is now running out for Sara to achieve one of her bigger goals. 

“I really want to win the youth world championships while I’m still junior,” she let on. This year’s event in Yankton will be her last chance as she will be too old in 2017. “To get back to the World Cup Final would be great, too.” 

She’s off to a good start. 

Fatin Mat Salleh already had gold in her pocket when she stepped onto the line for the compound women’s bronze medal match. She won the Shanghai team title with her Malaysian colleagues in the morning. 

She couldn’t quite find the form that saw her group beat out the United States, wayward with her arrows through the first two ends: scores of 27 and 26 points each for three arrows. 

After that, Fatin tightened up, shooting a 29 to make nine arrows shot and an 82 total. 

But Stephanie Salinas, her Mexican opponent, had adjusted to the finals field faster – dropping five points over the first six, rather than the Malaysian’s seven – and answered Fatin’s challenge in the third end. She put three arrows in the 10, was three points up and never looked back. 

Salinas won bronze, 142-138. 

The Americas took a clean sweep on the compound women’s podium: Colombia gold, Mexico silver and bronze.