16 December 2010 - Individual medals awarded in Guangzhou

Individual medals awarded in Guangzhou Guangzhou (CHN) – 16 December 2010 DONG Zhi (CHN)    Although most of the rain fell overnight and had cleared by start time on Thursday 16 December in the morning, it was still very windy and extremely cold in Guangzhou. The decision to finish early the day before and start late today had been correct.   The archers had been advised to bring all their warm clothing and they were permitted to wear the extra clothes as long as the competitor number could be clearly seen.   Perhaps the biggest surprise of the Individual Finals Day was the number of medals won by the Islamic Republic of Iran with a total of 4 (2 gold and 2 bronze).   In the recurve men W1/W2 class Ebrahim RANJBARKIVA (IRI) won the first of the gold medals defeating CHENG Changjie (CHN) 7 -3. In that same class the Iran teammate Roham SHAHABIPOUR overcame a strong challenge from LEE Hong Gu (KOR) to take the bronze.   In recurve men Standing LEE Hak Young (KOR) beat Kimimasa ONODERA (JPN) losing the first set but coming back strongly to take the next three sets and the bronze medal. In the gold medal match China’s DONG Zhi overcame Sakon INKAEW (THA) 6 points to 2. In the final set the Thai archer appeared to be confused and failed to shoot his first arrow despite the clock clearly and correctly showing he should shoot first. This was later the subject of an appeal which, after extensive investigation, was declined by the Jury.   Korea’s LEE Ouk Soo overcame the strong resistance of his teammate KWEON Hyun Ju in the final of the compound me Open division. They won alternate sets until the last when LEE shot a 29 to KWEON’s 28 to take the final set and the gold medal. This was a high scoring match despite the difficult wind conditions. WU Tung Sang (HKG) took the bronze ahead of Kazumasa HATTORI (JPN).   The compound men W1 division had only two entrants, so after the ranking round there was only the gold medal match. Both archers were from Japan and Shinichi SAITO won a very close match over Koichi MINAMI 6 set points to 4.   The women’s division saw some interesting matches with Miho NAGANO (JPN) taking the gold medal in the compound Open class. NAGANO has the use of only one arm so holds the bow in her good arm and draws the string back with a release aid held in her teeth. She has shot consistently high scores all week, beating YU Sun Doek (KOR) 7-1 in the final.   Iran collected medals in the other two women’s matches, Razieh SHIR MOHAMMAD taking the gold ahead of KIM Ransook (KOR) 6-2 in the recurve women Standing class, with the bronze going to world record holder GAO Fangxia (CHN) who beat LEE Hwa Sook (KOR) in a closely fought duel 6 points to 4.   In the other women’s match, the recurve W1/W2 Korea asserted its dominance in recurve women archery to take the gold medal with KO Hee Sook beating XIAO Yanhong (CHN) 7-3. The bronze medal match was much closer with Zahra NEMATI (IRI) and YUAN Lulu (CHN) alternating set wins until finally the Iranian woman took the fifth set and Iran's fourth medal of the Games.   The weather for the final day is again scheduled to be extremely cold so the schedule has been compressed to permit all the matches to flow quickly and protect the archers as much as possible from the low temperatures.   The officials were protected by down-filled, shower proof jackets provided by the Organising Committee. It was an amazing achievement to provide these jackets to all officials in all outdoor sports and warm vests to those of indoor sports at less than 24-hour notice. Congratulations and thank you to the Guangzhou Asian Para Games Organising Committee!   The full results can be found on the competition's website here.     Carole HICKS World Archery Communication