Aydin keeps his promise, wins gold in Dubai World Archery Para C’ships; Pooja wins historic silver
Yigit Aydin in action during the men's individual W1 final.
Seven months after Turkey’s Yigit Caner Aydin made a promise to himself, he proudly stood on the top of the podium at the Dubai 2022 World Archery Para Championships.
Aydin had shocked fellow Turkish archer and Tokyo 2020 silver medallist Nihat Türkmenoglu 136-126 in the individual men W1 final.
He admitted that ‘winning the individual gold was the best moment of his career’ after two team gold medals at the Beijing 2017 and s-Hertogenbosch 2019 World Championships.
Having missed out the Tokyo 2020 berth, Aydin made sure that he makes this World Championships “memorable”.
“Missing out on the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games was hard and I made a promise to myself at Nove Mesto 2021 that I will get the gold at the World Championships,” said Aydin who took the gold medal at the Nove Mesto 2021 World Ranking Championships after a silver at Fazza World Ranking event in 2021.
“I worked very hard for this Championships; trained early every morning for five hours. My only focus was to win the gold here which will also motivate me to work towards my dream – the Paralympic gold in Paris 2024.
“In fact I had waited for this moment for five years as I had the team gold medal in Beijing and the Netherlands. In Dubai, I was in my best form. I also feel I have improved in many aspects and I believe in myself,” said the 29-year-old, who describes archery as “life changer”.
India’s Pooja Jatyan made her first Worlds appearance a memorable one as she claimed the historic silver medal for India in women recurve open at the Dubai 2022 Championships.
Pooja, the 24-year-old from Gurugram, Haryana, who already had scripted history becoming the first ever Indian para-archer to reach the finals of Worlds individual event, put up a great fight against Italian Paralympic silver medallist Vincenza Petrilli but wasn’t enough 3-7 (24-24, 23-21, 26-28, 24-26, 25-27).
The 24-year-old Indian had raced to a 3-1 lead before a couple of 7s spoiled her campaign.
“It was great to play the finals and go back home with the silver. A little bit disappointed to lose on the gold. But I fought hard. I will try hard to make it gold next time,” said Pooja.
“Coming into the event, I didn’t expect a medal in the individual category, rather in mixed category. I and Harry Bhaiya (Harvinder Singh) make a strong pair.”
In the recurve men's open, Japanese Ueyama Tomohiro pipped France’s Toucoullet Guillaume in a thrilling one-arrow shoot-off 6-5. With the scores level at 5-all, Tomohiro shot a 9 while Guillaume managed 8. “I can’t express it in words. I ‘m just so happy.”
“I didn’t think about any number while shooting. I just tried to follow the process and shot like a normal day.This is my best ever result.”
