Virgin Islands Archery Team Strikes Gold at the Central American Caribbean Games

After finishing third in the qualifying ranking round, Nicholas D’Amour fought hard through the elimination matches to strike gold and reach the top of the podium at the Central American Caribbean Games 2023.

Hard fought is an understatement…in his first elimination match, D’Amour faced Christel Denis Nicolas of Martinique. D’Amour was down 0-4 and fought back winning the next three sets to beat his opponent 6-4 with scores of (26,27,28,29,30) to his opponent (27,28,25,23,24).

D’Amour next faced Angel Gonzalez Reyes from Puerto Rico, winning 6-4 in a four-set match.

In the quarter-finals, D’Amour faced Javier Vega Valle of Cuba. Again, he faced a formidable challenge. He was leading 4-0, when Vega Valle battled back to tie 4-4. The two opponents tied the fifth and final end, forcing a one arrow shoot off. D’Amour opened with a perfect 10 and bested Vega Valle’s eight. The final scores were Nicholas (26,26,26,26,28) T.10 and Vega Valle (24,24,29,28,28) T.8.

The win put D’Amour in the semi-finals against Hugo Franco from Cuba. Nicholas and Franco had previously faced each other in the finals of the Copa Merengue in Santo Domingo last year, where D’Amour won a gold medal, beating Franco in a close match 6-4. In these semi-finals, D’Amour again prevailed, winning 6-2. This win set-up the finals against Jorge Enriquez of Colombia.