Beijing, China
September 06, 2008 to September 17, 2008
Day 1 - Sept. 9
2008 PARALYMPIC GAMES: U.S. Archery Team Begins Ranking RoundsBEIJING, China --Rain threatened to postpone today's ranking round however, it did not stop the eight archers of the United States 2008 Paralympic Archery Team from competing.
Archery competition kicked off this morning when the first set of archers shot two halves of 36 arrows, finishing with 72 arrows and a possible score of 720. When shooting, each archer is aiming at a 12cm target set 70m away and under a 4-minute time crunch.
U.S. archers T.J. Pemberton, (Eric Bennett, (Moore, Okla.), Lindsey Carmichael (Lago Vista, Texas) and Chuck Lear, (Lee's Summit, Mo) were all ranked in the top 20 of their categories.
Jeff Fabry, (Tulare, Calif) finished second in his category Fabry will bypass competition tomorrow and earn a free pass to the 1/8 eliminations, also known as a "bye," on Thursday.
"Once ranking rounds are over that is when the real job begins," said Fabry, "today is all about who puts the best 12 arrows together."
This is the second Paralympic games for Fabry, who finished second in the Men's Individual Compound ranking round. Fabry's first time to shoot a bow was at the Olympic Training Center at Chula Vista, Calif. on Sept 11, 2001. Fabry followed-up his two-medal performance in Athens with the IPC World Championships in Cheongju, Korea, where he won his third world championship in the W1 Recurve class.
Four archery athletes will make their Paralympic Games debut, they include Joe Bailey (Flushing, Mich.), who finished 6 out of 20 in today's ranking rounds. Eric Bennett (Surprise, Ariz.), T.J. Pemberton (Guthrie, Okla.) and Russell Wolfe (Williamsburg, Va.).
Bailey's 6th place finish in the debut of the Men's Individual Compound Open category earns himself a bye for the 1/16th eliminations, a day off until the 1/8th eliminations on Thursday.
"This is the first time this division is allowed (in the Paralympics), said Bailey, "I just shoot, sleep and eat Archery, I'm like the Michael Phelps of Archery,"
For more information regarding the results:
