In a heartbreaking turn of events, archer Do Thi Anh Nguyet was eliminated from the women’s individual recurve event at the Paris 2024 Olympics after a narrow loss in the tiebreak shoot-off against Mobina Fallah of Iran.
During the shoot-off, each archer was allowed only one arrow, with the closer shot to the center winning. Anh Nguyet shot first, placing her arrow between the nine and ten rings, which the organizers awarded ten points, at a distance of 0.61 cm from the center. This impressive shot put pressure on Fallah, who took a long aim and released her arrow with just two seconds remaining. Her arrow, nearly perfect, scored ten points, at a distance of 0.121 cm from the center, narrowly edging out Anh Nguyet by 0.489 cm. The Iranian archer celebrated her victory exuberantly after seeing the result on the big screen.
The match was initially scheduled for the early hours of August 1 but was postponed by a day due to heavy rain in Paris. Entering the match, both archers were closely matched, with Anh Nguyet ranked 37th and Fallah 28th in the ranking round. Anh Nguyet had scored 648 points, while Fallah had 652.
In the ranking by the World Archery Federation (WA), Anh Nguyet was ranked 70th, just one spot behind Fallah. Statistically, both archers had an average score of 8.8 per arrow. However, Anh Nguyet had more international experience, having won 14 out of 26 matches compared to Fallah’s three wins out of nine matches.
On the day of the match, the weather remained challenging with overcast skies and strong winds, but the competition proceeded. The format consisted of five sets, each set awarding two points to the winner. The first archer to reach six points would win the match, with ties leading to a shoot-off.
The first set ended in a tie with both archers scoring 25 points. In the second set, both started strong with scores of ten, but Anh Nguyet scored a seven on her second arrow while Fallah scored eight. The final arrows of the set saw Anh Nguyet scoring nine, while Fallah matched that score to win the set 27-26.
Anh Nguyet won the third set by scoring three nines, while Fallah had an eight. The fourth set saw Anh Nguyet’s scores dropping to ten, nine, and eight, whereas Fallah remained consistent with two tens and a nine.
Despite the pressure, Anh Nguyet kept her composure in the fifth set, scoring ten and nine on her first two arrows. Fallah scored nine and eight, leaving her needing a ten to tie the set but managed only nine, leading to a tied match at 5-5 and forcing a shoot-off.
In the tiebreak, both archers scored ten points, but Fallah’s closer shot gave her the victory, marking Anh Nguyet’s second consecutive Olympic elimination in the 1/32 round by shoot-off, repeating her Tokyo 2020 outcome against Ren Hayakawa of Japan.
This defeat also ended Vietnam’s archery campaign at the Paris 2024 Olympics. Earlier, Le Quoc Phong lost 0-6 to Moldova’s Dan Olaru in the men’s individual recurve event, with scores of 24-28, 28-30, and 26-27 in their 1/32 round match.
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