Bangladesh reach World Archery mixed doubles final

Bangladesh's celebrated archer Mohammad Ruman Shana, pairing with Diya Siddiqui, reached the recurve mixed doubles final of the Archery World Cup 2021 Stage-2 held in the Swiss city of Lausanne on Thursday.

The Bangladeshi mixed pair smartly booked a seat for the final eliminating their Canadian rivals by 5-3 set points in the event's semifinal in the recurve mixed team semis to deliver Bangladesh its first-ever international gold medal match, which will take place on Sunday morning at the second stage of the 2021 Hyundai Archery World Cup in Lausanne.

"I'm so excited – I don't even understand it's a final," Siddique said. "It's so shocking!" 

The duo will compete for the gold on Sunday against Gabriela Schloesser and Sjef Van Den Berg of the Netherlands. Denmark and the Netherlands will shoot for compound mixed team gold on Saturday at 3:30 pm Bangladesh time.

"I don't know how to explain it. It's the first time Bangladesh made the final," Shana said. "I'm really happy and grateful to my coach, my teachers, my family and my partner, who was supporting me so much."

Win or lose, with a guaranteed silver this is Bangladesh's best international result to date.

Bangladesh's final is no fluke. The pair were excellent in matchplay.

Shana and Siddique beat top-seeded Germany, 5-1, in the second round and then Spain in a shoot-off. They shot a perfect set of 40 points in the semifinal against Canada and looked like they belonged throughout, despite being the technical underdogs.

As the number 17 seed, the duo will have to pull off one last upset – against the second-seeded Netherlands – to capture the gold. 

On Wednesday, Ruman Shana was miserably eliminated from his favourite Recurve Men's Singles in round-16 while Diya Siddiqui was eliminated from Recurve Women's Singles in round-24.