Valencia and Álvarez give Mexico the first medal in archery at Tokyo 2020

Mexicans Alejandra Valencia and Luis Álvarez celebrate a won set this Saturday.CLODAGH KILCOYNE / Reuters

Mexico hit the target and added the 70th medal in its entire history.

The tandem Alejandra Valencia and Luis Álvarez have won the bronze medal after beating Turkey (6-2).

It was the first time that the mixed test was organized in the Olympic Games and the Mexicans have already made history.

Valencia (Hermosillo, 26 years old) plays its third Games.

His premiere was in London 2012 when individually he finished in seventeenth place individually and seventh in teams.

In Rio de Janeiro 2016, she surprised the world by eliminating the number one of that moment, the South Korean Choi Misun in the quarterfinals.

Despite that achievement, she finished fourth in Brazil.

Tokyo was his revenge, although he already knows what it is to win: two three in the Pan American Games (2011 and 2019 alone; 2011 in the team event) and one silver in the 2017 World Cup in teams.

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Luis Álvarez (Mexicali, 30 years old) is nicknamed the

Grandfather

. The nickname he earned as a child for being grumpy with his friends. In London 2012 he finished in the same place as Ale Valencia: seventeenth. In his record, he won gold at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto and in the last Pan American Championship he won bronze in team mode. "Almost ten years have passed, it is quite a few years, but at the end of the day we already took the first step," he said when he won his ticket to Tokyo 2020.

In the round of 16 they faced the Germans Michelle Kroppen and Florian Unruh.

The Mexicans swept all four sets 6-2.

The mental strength of the Mexicans earned them the ticket to the quarterfinals.

The rival was the couple from Great Britain.

The British had eliminated the sport's powerhouse China by a score of 5-3.

The Mexican team beat the British with determination and better arrows and they won the game in four sets 6-0.

The semifinals crossing marked the biggest rival of all in archery: South Korea.

The Asian country, always a favorite in this sport, overwhelmed Bangladesh (6-0) and India (4-2).

Nothing could deconcentrate San An (20 years old) and Je Deok Kim (17).

The Mexicans appealed to their best shots, but the Koreans did not give up and dominated the match 5-1.

The last hope for Valencia and Álvarez was bronze against Turkey.

Álvarez compromised the shot by sending the arrow off center.

The Mexicans had to overcome the mind of Yasemin Anagoz and Mete Gazoz.

Mexico found archery a sport to highlight.

In London 2012 the bow and arrow team gave the country its first two medals.

Aída Román won the silver and Mariana Avitia the bronze.

From Beijing, Roman was starting to gain ground when he finished thirteenth.

In 2021, in the world ranking of mixed teams, Mexico is third in the world only behind South Korea and the Netherlands.

Alejandra Valencia will compete as a women's team in the quarterfinals this Tuesday (11:45 PM Central Time) and individually on July 28 (9:30 PM).

Álvarez will return to the stage individually against the Japanese Furukawa (Tuesday, July 27, 22:06 CET).

Valencia and Álvarez, finally, have hung a medal.

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