Tamini’s six then tied the first set 49-49, with both sides trading the second and third ends – Mauritius won the second, Côte d’Ivoire the third – before a 51-51 fourth end tied proceedings.
Those were the highest scores either trio dropped in the match, but as inseparable as they were in the set system, Atcho let fly a low 5 in the sudden detah, much to his visible dismay – his faster-than-usual release likely a determining factor.
It proved costly as Mauritius kept their composure in the face of the bright Ivorian sun, shooting 9, 9, 8 to take home a historic gold.
As well as medals, they also received a gift each from the very sportsmanlike and respectable Eyeni, who congratulated them personally after Sien’s winning arrow.
A silver for Côte d’Ivoire is still better than nothing, as they had a fine overall day in team finals.
They grabbed gold in the recurve women, recurve under-18 men and barebow mixed team medal matches, on top of their silvers in recurve men, recurve under-18 women and recurve under-18 mixed, taking their total number of team podiums to six in Abidjan.
