SZ athlete wins archery gold in Paralympics

A SHENZHEN archer brought home the first Paralympics gold in the city’s history when the China team defeated South Korea in the final of the women’s team recurve Monday.

Xiao Yanhong, a native of Longgang District, started her match with a 10 and secured a score of 205 with teammates Fu Hongzhi and Gao Fangxia. It was a new world record, five points higher than the previous record also held by the team.

“I am very excited because I exceeded my expectations,” said Xiao. She said she was very grateful to Shenzhen residents for their support.

The Chinese team beat Germany 187-164 in the quarterfinal and then Poland 194-178 in the semifinal.

The final had been expected to be a fierce matchup as the South Korean archers stunned the Czech Republic with a new Paralympic record of 199 to advance.

However, the archery powerhouse seemed to have lost momentum after reaching the final when an eight-point gap soon opened between South Korea and China.

Xiao, the bronze winner in the women’s individual recurve event, was the first to shoot and returned a 10. Gao, the only one of the three to shoot standing, recorded three 10s and two 9s.

By comparison, South Korean archers seemed out of sorts losing by 28 points.

Xiao, a 30-year-old wheelchair archer, said she had not expected to win the gold.

“It didn’t matter whether it was the quarterfinal or the final, we just concentrated on each arrow. Whether we won or lost, we just wanted to do our best and enjoy ourselves in the process,” she said.

Xiao unexpectedly lost in the women’s individual recurve event. A zero in the last series saw her drop to third place.

Xiao was paralyzed in a car accident in 2002 and started archery just two years ago. Last year, she was one of Shenzhen’s Top 10 Outstanding Youths. During training for the Games, two steel plates supporting her spine broke and she postponed an operation so she could compete in the Paralympics.

Asked what she would do to celebrate the victory, the champion said she wanted to have a good sleep.

(Liu Minxia)