Rubel, Diya secure silver for Bangladesh

DHAKA - Bangladesh had to be content with silver medal
in the recurve mixed team event as the archers secured a silver medal on the
last day of the Teer 22nd Asian Archery Championships held today at
Bangladesh Army Stadium in the city.

   The Bangladesh archery team comprising Hakim Ahmed Rubel and promising
archer Diya Siddique lost by 1-5 sets to their Korean pair Lee Seungyun and
Royoo Su Sung in the final.

   Undoubtedly, it's a big achievement for Bangladesh winning the silver
medal in this prestigious stage after surpassing India.

   Earlier on Tuesday last, Rubel-Diya pair made history by reaching into the
final of an event for the first time after a close-run 5-4 win over a strong
India in an exciting semifinal.

   Coach Martin Frederick, however, content over the archers' performance on
the day.

   He said: "I'm happy with their performance... They all played well... We
may not have won gold here but we've won silver. This is actually the stage
of the final... They'll be needed more time to perform here though they shot
very good arrow in the last set."

   Diya Siddiqui in her reaction after the match said: "We played well in the
whole tournament and also tried to play well in the final... I may not have
shot like that early today but in the end I played well. They (Korea)
actually shoot arrows in the same sequence. We've to take our confidence of
that level."

   Rubel said: "We've a lot to learn from this defeat... We've able to sort
out our mistakes in the championship and we'll try to correct those mistakes later stage."BSS