Bostan breaks silver run with home-soil victory in Turkey

On home sand and stones on a Turkish beach in Antalya, Yesim Bostan – who finished second at both the last world outdoor and world indoor championships – won her first international tournament.

She took the compound women’s gold medal at the second stage of the 2018 Hyundai Archery World Cup and qualified for a circuit final that will also be held in Turkey, in Samsun, with a thrilling victory over Paige Pearce Gore of the USA.

“It was a very special moment for me. I’ve had a really good season, a lot of medals, but not gold medals,” said Bostan. 

“Finally I’ve got the medal I wanted, in my home country. I’m really happy to sing my national anthem here.”

Bostan had a series of events finishing as runner-up. At this event, she was determined to go better.

The Turkish archer opened with seven maximums in a row and led by two points after the second end. The anxiety that had sunk her chances in other finals only showed once, in the third set, with a visible twitch of her bow arm. 

Pearce Gore levelled, but Bostan held her nerve over the final three arrows to take the match by two points, 147-145. 

“When I got up in the morning I was really excited, I could feel the butterflies, but I just managed to calm down. Before I got onto the field, I tried to imagine how I would shoot,” she said. 

“There was one arrow I had trouble with but the rest were good.” 

The win secured Bostan automatic qualification for the 2018 Hyundai Archery World Cup Final in Samsun, and seemed to uncork the bottle on ambitious plans:

“I want to finish this year as the number one archer in the world, and I’m really looking forward to representing my country at the World Cup Final here this year.”

In the compound women’s bronze medal match, So Chaewon, in her third appearance of the day, shot an impressive 15-arrow 50-metre match to beat Chen Yi-Hsuan of Chinese Taipei. Chen started well but ran out of gas in the last three ends. 

The Korean athlete took her third medal of the day, after team bronze and mixed team silver, 148-143. So also won the Longines Prize for Precision stage award for compound women, shooting 113 total 10s in qualification and the elimination phases in Antalya.

The second stage of the Hyundai Archery World Cup takes place in Antalya, Turkey on 20-26 May.