The Dominican Republic has the chance to send their first-ever archer to an Olympic Games ©World Archery

The Dominican Republic has the chance to send their first-ever archer to an Olympic Games after Yessica Camilo upset Cuba’s Elizabeth Rodriguez in a quarter-final shoot-off at the Rio 2016 continental qualifier in Medellín in Colombia.

The match between 12th seed Camilo and fourth-ranked Rodriguez decided which of the two nations took the third women’s recurve place available.

To take it up, Camilo - or one of her Dominican Republic team-mates - needs to shoot the minimum qualifying score of 600 in a world record status competition.

She scored 557 out of 720 points today.

"We have never been to the Olympics before so this is just amazing," said Camilo, who shot an eight with her tiebreaker arrow before her opponent put down a seven.

"We’ll train hard to give our best in Rio.

"We’re five women, so I guess we’ll have a selection shoot to decide who will go to the Olympics, but for the moment I’ll take the happiness and the credit."

Venezuela secured a Rio 2016 berth thanks to the efforts of Mayra Mendez and Leidys Brito
Venezuela secured a Rio 2016 berth thanks to the efforts of Mayra Mendez and Leidys Brito ©World Archery

Mayra Mendez and top seed Leidys Brito both reached the semi-finals to secure the Venezuela's invitation. 

Brito beat Camilo 6-0 in the last four and then went on to overcome Mendez - a 6-5 winner against Canada’s Georcy Thiffeault-Picard in the semi-finals - 6-5 in the final.

Thiffeault-Picard defeated team-mate Kateri Vrakking 6-2 in the quarter-finals, but as it turned out, Canada would still have claimed an Olympic space regardless of the outcome. 

She then defeated Camilo 6-0 in the bronze medal match.

On the men’s side, Olympic veteran Juan Rene Serrano, Luis Alvarez and Ernesto Boardman all reached the semi-finals to guarantee Mexico a place.

Boardman ended up winning the event after beating top seed Serrano 6-2 in the final.

Alvarez came third with a 6-4 victory over El Salvador’s Oscar Ticas in the bronze medal match.

Despite his defeat, Ticas has a chance to become the first El Salvadorian archer to compete at an Olympics since Ricardo Merlos did so at Athens 2004.

Chile’s Guillermo Aguilar suffered a quarter-final shoot-off loss at the hands of Alvarez but a fifth-place finish overall was still good enough for the third and final men’s spot.

Chile’s Guillermo Aguilar did enough to secure the third and final men's spot
Chile’s Guillermo Aguilar did enough to secure the third and final men's spot ©World Archery

The Rio 2016 continental qualifier was held ahead of the second stage of this season’s Archery World Cup in Medellín.

Thirty athletes from 12 nations fought for the three recurve men’s spots, while 14 competitors from seven countries entered into the recurve women’s draw.

The places could only be won by athletes from teams that did not already have a spot in that category.

The third stage of the Archery World Cup, due to take place in Turkish city Antalya from June 12 to 19, is set to host the final team and individual Olympic qualifiers.