Archers fire on point in Iraq

Bangladesh archers are on the verge of tasting glory in three events of Archery Asia Cup Stage-2 world ranking tournament as they booked their last-hurdle clashes against India after beating their respective rivals in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq yesterday.

Bangladesh men's recurve team, women's recurve team and compound men's team reached their respective event's finals, scheduled to be held on May 11, while Bangladesh compound women's team had to remain content with advancing to the bronze-medal match after losing to Kazakhstan in the semi-finals.

Ruman Sana, Hakim Ahmed Rubel and Abdur Rahman Alif, of the men's recurve team, initially clean-sweeped Iraq 6-0 in the quarterfinals before notching a hard-fought 5-4 victory over Iran in the semi-final, where the men in red and green overcame the tiebreakers with a 29-24 win following a 4-4 score-line after four sets.

The women's recurve team then followed Ruman and Co's footsteps as Diya Siddique, Nasin Akhter and Beauty Roy thumped Iraq 6-0 in the quarterfinals before thrashing Uzbekistan 5-1 in the last-four hurdle.

In the men's compound event, Bangladesh progressed to semi-finals after getting a bye in the quarterfinal, after which the team of Ashikuzzaman, Mithu Rahman and Newas Ahmed Rakib beat Kazakhstan 231-228 in the semi-final to also book their final encounter against their superior Indian counterparts.