RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - Today World Champion Eric Bennett (Surprise, Arizona) and Michael Lukow (Salt Lake City, Utah) took a shot at the recurve open men's podium at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. Lukow, the U.S.'s first amputee soldier to compete in the Paralympics for archery, went out in the first round, while Bennett made it to the top eight in the quarterfinals.
For the first two matches, Bennett had the crowd on the edge of their seats with intense five-set matches. The first against Vaclav Kostal of the Czech Republic, and the second against Chinese Taipei's Lung-Hui Tseng who had eliminated Lukow in three straight sets in the first round.
Through to the quarterfinals, Bennett faced second seeded archer Hanreuchai Netsiri. Netsiri never loosed an arrow outside of the 8-ring and took the win 6-0.
Bennett shared on social media: "I made it to the quarterfinals and was thrown for an unexpected loop under the lights. The shadows made it so I was not able to see my clicker and as a result I struggled. Emotions are running high right now but gratitude is first and foremost. I am humbled and so thankful for all of you and your support. Though I did not prevail today I am not disappointed in my effort. It just wasn't in the cards."
"I struggled the entire time," commented Lukow. " I lost some of the confidence in my process, but will get it back and be ready for Tokyo in four years. My thanks to Rio for a wonderful event."
For complete results from the competition visit www.worldarchery.org. Competition continues tomorrow with the recurve open men's eliminations - USA's Matt Stutzman, Kevin Polish and Andre Shelby are top athletes to watch!
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