VALENCIA and ELLISON: Queen and King in Guadalajara

VALENCIA and ELLISON: Queen and King in Guadalajara Guadalajara – 22 October 2011    Top seed Alejandra VALENCIA (MEX) and Brady ELLISON (USA) won the individual titles at the Pan American Games to put an end to the archery competition in beautiful Guadalajara.    
Alejandra VALENCIA defeated Leidys BRITO (VEN) and Miranda LEEK (USA) in the semifinal and the gold match to win her second gold medal in these games. She had been one of the members of the Mexican team that became Pan Am Champion the day before. In both matches the score was 6-2. She won 5 sets, tied two and lost only one. Another Mexican, Aida ROMAN took the bronze versus Leidys BRITO from Venezuela. 
    
Alejandra VALENCIA is the second archer from a country other than the United States to win the individual gold in the Pan Am Games. Cuba’s Yaremis PEREZ had won in Winnipeg 1999. The previous champions from the USA were Lynette JOHNSON (1979), Ruth ROWE (1983), Denise PARKER (1987 and 1991), Janet DYKMAN (1995) and Jennifer NICHOLS (2003 and 2007).
   
Once again did Brady ELLISON show he is the best recurve archer in the world now, as he won his two matches versus very experienced and internationally laurelled archers: the local favourite Juan Rene SERRANO with a score of 6-2, and Canada’s Crispin DUENAS who fought till the last arrow in a match in which ELLISON needed to go to the fifth set to win 6-4. The US archer was ahead 4-2, but in the fourth set DUENAS shot a perfect 30 to tie the match. ELLISON’s 10-10-9 was better than his opponent’s 10-9-9 in the fifth end, and the Pan American Games titled returned to the United States. They had lost it in Rio 2007 to the young Cuban archer Adrian PUENTES, who did not make the Cuban team this time. Other previous Pan Am Games champions include Rodney BASTON (1979), Darrell PACE (1983 and 1991), Jay BARRS (1987), Ed ELIASON (1995), Jason McKITTRICK (1999) and Victor WUNDERLE (2003).
   
The bronze medal went to a surprising 17-year old Colombian, Daniel PINEDA, who did not seem to hear the local crowd root for his opponent Juan Rene SERRANO, and achieved a historical victory 7-1. 
   
The archery competition of the Pan Am has concluded. The archers have said goodbye to Guadalajara and have started to get ready for Toronto 2015.
  
Sergio FONT
World Archery Communicatio