Czech athletes won the first precious metal at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo. Thanks to David Drahonínský and Šárka Musilová, who found a mix of archery teams in the competition at the Yumenoshima shooting range in the final.
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“The mix teams are behind us and Šárka managed it excellently!” Drahonínský praised himself in the video he published on social networks after the silver tournament. “We have the medal we promised you. And we will soon bring her to the Czech Republic. Greetings to you all and keep cheering. Even to our colleagues. Because we definitely have far more of those handcuffs there. “
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He then responded to the congratulations with an apology that he no longer had the strength to answer: “I’m who I’m going to sleep, it was really difficult. But thanks to your support, it did better. Keep your fingers crossed for the Czech team and all para-athletes, the metal chest is open and it’s time to start filling it. “
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Drahonínský and Musilová first fought their way to the quarterfinals, where rivals from Brazil were waiting for them. “The Czech duo confirmed the role of the favorite and won 131: 126. A more difficult opponent in the form of Korean archers followed, but even this duo could not stop our representatives on their way through the tournament, and after the result of 141: 126 it was clear that the Czechs will shoot for gold in the final! ” on their site Czech Paralympic Committee.
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In the fight for the most valuable metal, it initially looked very promising. The Czechs led the first round by one point 34:33. “Unfortunately, in the next rounds, the Chinese got confused and gradually shot the individual rounds three times for 35 points,” said the author of the article, Martin Steinbach.
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In the end, the Czech pair lost by a small difference of 133: 138 and won silver medals.
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Drahonínský belongs to the world’s archery elite. He competes in the W1 category with a roller bow. His greatest achievements include the 2008 Gold Medal from the Beijing Paralympics, the 2012 Silver from the London Paralympics, another 2016 Silver from Rio and the first place at the Donaueschingen World Championships.
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A versatile athlete, he played football, hockey and taekwondo in his youth. At the age of seventeen, however, he fell from a balcony on the third floor due to the somnolence he suffered and, among other things, seriously injured his spine. Despite being diagnosed with quadriplegia, he decided to continue playing sports. It originally started in 2000 with bocciou, then switched to archery.
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Šárka Musilová also practiced sports until the spinal cord injury, which occurred to her at the age of 19. Her silver partner brought her to archery.
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“During my stay at the rehabilitation institute in Kladruby, I discovered the opportunity to play sports in a wheelchair. After returning home, I looked for a sports club near my place of residence and started with floorball, later I added quad burs. During my rehabilitation at the Paraple Center, I met David Drahonínský, who led me to the idea of archery, ” she wrote about herself Musilová. “In the SC OA Jánské Lázně club, under the guidance of coach Daniel Friedrich, I got to know the beauty of this sport and I fell in love with archery. The meeting with David and Daniel was fatal, because thanks to them I actually shoot from a bow. I started training once or twice a week, now I train almost every day. “
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