Ruman, Diya going for gold

Ruman Sana and Diya Siddique will settle for nothing less than the gold medal, they said, when they take on Gabriela Schloesser and Sjef Van Den Berg of Netherlands in the final of the recurve mixed team event in the World Cup Stage 2 today.

The event will kick off at 3:30pm Bangladesh time in the Swiss city of Lausanne.

The two talented archers booked Bangladesh a place in a World Cup final for the first time, beating heavyweights like top-seeded Germany in the second round and then Spain in a shoot-off. They shot a perfect set of 40 points in the semifinal against Canada to book a final berth.

Before going to Switzerland, Bangladesh's expectations revolved mostly around gathering exposure ahead of next month's World Cup event in Paris, following a break of 16 months due to the pandemic. While the rust from the long international break was evident in most events they took part, the surprising result in mixed team event offset all those setbacks. 

"I'm so excited -- I don't even understand it's a final. It's so shocking," Diya told worldarchery.sport after reaching the final.

Her teammate, Ruman, has more experience at this level as the best recurve archer of the country previously qualified for the Olympics an Olympic Games at the 2019 Hyundai World Archery Championships in Netherlands in 2019 before winning a bronze medal in World Archery Championship in Switzerland in the same year.  "I don't know how to explain it. It's the first time Bangladesh made the final," Ruman said. "I'm really happy and grateful to my coach, my teachers, my family and my partner, who was supporting me so much."

Both archers expressed their optimism about giving their best in the final in video messages sent by the Bangladesh Archery Federation. They also thanked sponsors City Group for their continued support.