PH’s bronze in Archery won with blurred vision

2017 SEA Games trivia

SAN FERNANDO CITY, La Union – She has blurred vision, constantly wears glasses in school or at home and can hardly read without them.

She is 19-year-old Mary Queen Ybañez who took home the bronze medal in Archery at the recent the 2017 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Interviewed by The Manila Bulletin in Barangay Madayegdeg, this city, last Monday, Ybañez said she got into the sport at an early age when her vision was perfect.

Struck by astigmatism (blurred vision) in her teens, she had to wear corrective glasses.

Still, she continued training herself to hit the target 70 meters out even if international competitions meant having to do it without the aid of her spectacles.

“Matagal ko na kasi ito ginagawa sa paglalaro ng archery at nag-start ako 11 years old malinaw pa ang mga paningin ko,” she said.

On competition day last August 22, Ybañez recalls how she had to trust her pulse. As to her vision, she said: “Binabase ko na lang po sa kulay ’yung target, kahit malabo sa paningin ko (I had to base the target on the colors, since my vision is blurred).”

Ybañez together with her recurve team, Kareel Hongitan from Baguio City and Nichole Tagle from Dumaguete City, gave the Philippines its 4th bronze in Archery at the SEA Games.

Her vision might have been blurred, but something remains crystal clear in Ybañez’s memory: “It was a great feeling to plant the Philippine flag on the podium. I never expected to win on my first-ever SEA Games,” she said.