Bangladesh force superior China to earn victory in men's recurve event

Bangladesh gave a close fight against a vastly superior China in the men's recurve team event before being eliminated from Archery World Cup Stage-1 in Turkey on Friday.

In the men's recurve event, Hakim Ahmed Rubel lost 6-2 to Japanese Nakanishu Junya in the second round while Sagor Islam lost 6-2 to fourth seed Atanu Das of India.

Bangladesh have earlier been eliminated from men's and women's compound events, compound mixed event and women's recurve event. Today's results mean that all Bangladeshi archers were eliminated from the Archery World Cup and they are now all set to return home with wooden spoon.

In the recurve team event today, Bangladesh -- comprising Hakim Ahmed Rubel, Sagor Islam, and Ram Krishna Saha -- suffered a 6-2 defeat in the quarterfinal of men's recurve team event after beating Ukraine and Spain in the first and second round, respectively. 

In the quarterfinal clash, Bangladesh lost 56-50 in the first set and was about to beat China in the second set but lost it narrowly by 52-51 points.

Trailing by four set points in the third set, Bangladesh bounced back to earn two set points with a 55-52 points win. The men in red and green needed to win the fourth set to level the margin but they suffered a narrow 55-54 defeat despite offering a tough fight and eventually were eliminated from the quarterfinal.

Before coming in to the quarterfinals, Bangladesh beat 6-2 Ukraine (57-54, 52-52, 55-55, 58-53) in the first round and defeated 6-2 Spain (54-51, 54-56, 55-53, 54-49).