Spain’s Marin leads ranking round at Rio 2016 qualifying tournament

While Choi Misun posted a 686 to tie the recurve women’s world record and lead the individual event in the Hyundai Archery World Cup competition, 19-year-old Alicia Marin took a different pole. Her 653 points was enough for first in the Final Qualifying Tournament for the Olympic Games, which takes place on Thursday and Friday in Antalya.

“Am I really first?” said Alicia, still shocked with the result. “I shot okay, but I didn’t expect this. It’s awesome! We want to win a full team quota place and if it happens it would be great, if not, we are still young. The qualification is a good start, though.”

Alicia’s teammates in Antalya are 20- and 18 years old, respectively, Adriana Martin and Celia Castanos. Adriana finished third and Celia 23rd. Their sum of 1932 points qualified eighth as a team.

(There are both team and individual quota places available in Antalya: three teams and between three and six individuals, depending on the team results.)

“I’m so surprised,” said Adriana just after finishing the ranking round. “I started shooting very badly and then I got into it and improved my score by like 20 points, but it’s not that I expected so be so well positioned. Being third for the final qualification tournament in a place where only the best women in the world are shooting is just great. I’m really happy!”

World Champion at Belek 2013, Maja Jager finished in between the Spanish ladies with 652 points – and leading a Danish women’s team that ranked 12th in the qualifying event.

In Antalya, said Maja, the Danes are focused on winning the team place, but both in the team and individually, she’ll give her best to try and get the spot for this year’s Hyundai Archery World Cup Final host nation.

Sixty-five recurve women took part in the Final Qualification Tournament. There was no cut to advance to the eliminations phase of the individual tournament. Here’s three more things from the ranking round worth noting…

1. Five-time Olympian?

The last time 41-year-old Evangelia Psarra won an international medal was in 2003 in Nimes. In Antalya, the Greek archer has the chance to qualify for her fifth Olympics. Psarra shot 648 and ranked fourth in the qualifying tournament – an opening result that, she said, is based on her experience at competing at this kind of tournament.

“I shot better than I expected because, to be honest, I was a bit nervous,” she said. “I think the music helped me to relax and shoot better today. I thought about all the good memories that I have from here in Antalya and the I’m trying to compete in my fifth Olympics – that kept my motivation in place.”

2. Whatever it takes

Three-time Olympian Naomi Folkard from Great Britain had a rough night prior to qualification – she was very ill – but it didn’t stop her ranking fourth and leading the the British women in the Final Qualifying Tournament.

“I was awake all night, too hot, too cold. I was sick just before we started,” she said. “I think being sick was a distraction as I wasn’t worried about the scores. We are happy that we are all shooting well.”

3. Teams

Top three recurve women's team seeds for the Final Qualification Tournament for Rio 2016:

• 1. Germany  – 1991 pts
• 2. Italy  – 1985 pts
• 3. Chinese Taipei  – 1973 pts

There was a 16-squad cut to advance to the team elimination stages of the Final Qualification Tournament. The 16th seeds, Estonia, scored a combined 1895 points. Thirteen teams did not advance.