Bermuda’s archers twice missed out on bronze medals at the Junior Pan American Games in Asunción, Paraguay.

Robin Selley and Jaydon Roberts fell 6-2 to Cuba in the recurve mixed team, and hours later. Roberts lost by a similar scoreline to Esteban Silva, of Argentina, in the men's individual recurve.

Selley and Roberts started off well as they lost the first game 33-31. The Bermudians took the second game 32-31 to pick up their only set points.

In game three, the two teams upped the stakes, with each striking the bull’s-eye, only for Cuba to seal it 35-32. Bermuda hit the bull’s-eye with the second shot in the fourth game, but the Cubans achieved the same with the last shot to triumph 37-32.

After losing out in the team event, Roberts had an opportunity to make amends in the individual competition.

Roberts hit the outer ring three times in the first game, while Silva sealed it 27-24 with a bull’s-eye. The Bermudian did improve in the second game, hitting the bull’s-eye with his second shot to secure a 28-26 victory.

Silva sealed the third game 26-22 and the fourth by a close 26-25 after the Bermudian hit the centre of the target with his third shot.

Bermuda Olympic Association president Peter Dunne, who witnessed the archers in action, commended the athletes for holding their own against competitors from bigger nations.

“It’s pretty exciting for the sport and for the rest of us to have athletes contending for medals at this level,’’ he said.

“It was my first high-level archery competition to see and it was really amazing. As a sport, it’s really great to watch, and having our athletes competing against athletes from really huge countries was really exceptional.

“From what I heard from the athletes, other competitors were initially surprised to see Bermuda competing at such a high level. But now they know that we’re in it for the long haul.”