Ruman Sana in individual final after three years

Ruman Sana moved into the final of men's recurve individual event for the first time in nearly three years and after nine international tournaments when the ace archer beat Sadikov Amir Khan of Uzbekistan in the semifinal of Asia Cup Stage-2 in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq on Monday.

Though Ruman dropped sets in the third round and the quarterfinals, the archer from Khulna did not give Amir Khan no space in the semifinal, beating the Uzbek opponent 28-27, 29-28 and 28-26 to set up the final clash against Chauhan Mrinal of India on May 11.

Ruman, who also qualified for men's recurve team event in the ongoing tournament, last played in a recurve individual final in Archery Asia Cup Stage-3 in September, 2019 where he eventually won gold with a 7-3 sets victory over Zhenqi Shi of China in the Philippines.  

Since that victory, Ruman participated in nine international tournaments including Tokyo Olympics but the best feat for him was reaching the third round of the 2021 Asian Archery Championships, the 2021 Archery World Cup Stage-2 and the 2019 Asian Archery Championships.

"I feel really happy and can't express myself in word as I have advanced to the final after a long time," Ruman said. "Though I have played in final of team events a few times, this is the first time I reached individual final after two years [actually 33 months] and it is a big achievement for me.

"I think my experience is better than the other finalist [Chouhan Mrinal] and it depends how I perform on the day, but I will try to give my best to win the gold medal," Ruman said.