Moreno wins gold in archery, praises partner

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NANJING — Luis Gabriel Moreno, representative of the Philippines in the Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games (YOG), said that he felt lucky to be partners with Li Jiaman of China during the archery’s mixed team event.

“I’m lucky to have been paired with her,” said Moreno, who won the gold medal during the competition held last Sunday at the Fangshan Archery Field.

Moreno is ranked at 30 in the men’s category, while his partner is the third best lady archer.

Despite that, Moreno had his fair share of the win. During the semifinals, he opened with three straight 10’s against the team made up of representatives from Canada and Finland. Moreno added a couple of 8’s and another 10.

Moreno said that he is blessed to have Jiaman as his partner because he definitely enjoyed the crowd support from the Chinese fans.

“She can talk a little English. She was very encouraging and I think I needed that,” said Moreno. He also shared that his partner is good in guiding him in what to do. Thus, he was able to score 112 out of 12 arrows. His partner, Jiaman, had 114 points.

Moreno dedicated his victory to his family and the Filipino people, especially for the youth.

“I hope I can become a symbol of inspiration to all Filipino athletes and I hope a lot of Filipino athletes will qualify next year for the Rio Olympics,” he said.

Jose Cojuango, president of the Philippine Olympic Committee, missed the archery finals but he expressed his deep appreciation of Moreno’s victory.

“But overall, all our athletes in this YOG made our country proud,” said Cojuangco.