Diya, Nasrin dazzle to guarantee gold

Bangladesh already secured a gold medal before the actual gold-medal event as archers Diya Siddique and Nasrin Akter landed in the final of the women's individual recurve event yesterday at the 2022 Asia Cup World Ranking Tournament Stage 1 in Thailand. "It is really a different feeling that we, two Bangladeshis, will play the final of an international event," an elated Diya told The Daily Star over phone yesterday.

Apart from success in the individual events, Bangladesh, after yesterday's matches, will also be eyeing a gold in the women's team recurve event, and bronzes in men's individual and team recurve events and in men's compound event as well. 

Diya, despite losing two of the first three sets, overcame top seed Ridhi Phor of India 6-4 in the first round and went on to convincingly beat fourth seed Tisha Punia of India 7-3 in the semifinals. 

Nasrin, however, went through a much tougher challenge on the road to meeting Diya in the  final. First, she handed Laxmi Hembrom of India a first round exit by edging past the tenth seed 6-5 in tiebreakers and then underwent another gruelling battle in the semifinal against Malaysia's Nur Fozi as Nasrin won again by the exact margin. 

Meanwhile, Bangladesh women -- comprising Diya, Nasrin and Famida Sultana Nisha -- ousted Kazakhstan 5-1 in the semifinals and thus reached the team recurve event's final, where India stand in between them and the gold.