Turkey’s Gazoz to take on Valladont for European gold

Sixteen year-old Mete Gazoz shot 670 points during qualifying at the European Archery Championships, and in challenging conditions, to take second seed in the continental title event – and second in the Rio 2016 qualifying tournament.

The 670 was just one point behind Frenchman JC Valladont, his opponent-to-be at the gold medal final.

As part of its preparations for the Europeans, the Turkish team arrived in Nottingham one week early. Being able to train in cooler conditions than the usual ones the squad has at home was key to Mete’s performance, he explained.

“We normally don’t have windy conditions like here at home,” said Mete. “Being able to train with wind helped me to shoot well today. It was exactly as it was in practice, so I knew how to understand it, how to control it.”

On his first match of the day, Mete beat European Games Champion Miguel Alvarino from Spain in straight sets. Next fell Gasper Strajhar, 6-2, to move into the quarters, another match he won in straight sets over Baard Nesteng.

“It was so exciting today! I didn’t have much in my mind – and I was just focused on shooting good arrows,” said Mete.

In the semis he met Lucas Daniel from France. That match, said Mete, was his favourite of the day.

Mete started two up. Then Lucas shot a five in the second end to give the young Turkish athlete a bigger advantage: 4-0. In the fourth end, they split the set points: 5-1. In the fifth, both shot one 10 and two nines – another tie – guaranteeing Mete his shot at a first gold medal at a continental event.

“That was the longest match of the day. I enjoyed every set of it, especially the last one where I needed a 10 and I shot it,” said Mete.

On Sunday, he’ll shoot against Valladont, the top seeded recurve man in the competition, who beat host nation archer Patrick Huston in the semis, 7-3.

“Patrick had all the crowd behind him and it made the match more entertaining, but in the arena it was just him and me, and I won. It was a great match,” said JC.

Ukraine’s Veronika Marchenko will go for recurve women’s gold against Russia’s Tuiana Dashidorzhieva, while Anastasia Pavlova and Lisa Unruh compete for bronze.

The compound gold finals see Peter Elzinga take on World Archery Champion Stephan Hansen and Sarah Prieels go head-to-head with Alexandra Savenkova.