Three medals for World Cup champion Brady ELLISON

  Recurve Men Individual – Gold KIM Woojin (KOR/5) v Brady ELLISON (USA/6) The young 18-year-olk KIM already has international experience. In 2010 he finished 1st at the Asian Games in Guangzhou and 5th at the World Cup Final in Edinburgh. ELLISON, 22 years old, holds none the less than the World Cup Final, Longines Prize for Precision and Porec titles.   ELLISON had a perfect opening with two 10s. Despite an 8 at his third arrow, he managed to get the first two set points to lead 2-0. The two archers showed great shooting skills in the second set with 29 points each. The American kept the lead at 3-1. The reigning World Cup champion seemed to be eager to start the new season as he finished it! He shot a perfect third set to increase his advantage to 5-1, only one set point away from victory. But KIM tried hard to stay in the match opening the fourth set with two 10s. Unfortunately for the Korean, he then finished the end with an 8, giving an opportunity to his opponent to clinch the match. With a final 9, ELLISON tied the set and took one set point to add another gold medal to his record.   Recurve Men Individual – Bronze Viktor RUBAN (UKR/25) v Jake KAMINSKI (USA/15) The Olympic champion from Ukraine enters the bronze medal match as the favourite. He leads 2-0 in his head-to-head history against the American. They met two times in the World Cup, in Porec 2009 and Antalya 2010. Besides winning the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, RUBAN also finished 1st at the Universiade in 2009. KAMINSKI had a good start this season with 3rd place at the Arizona Cup last month.   The best start was for the American with 9-10-10 to take the first two set points and lead 2-0. In the second set, both athletes scored 29 points out of a possible 30 to get one set point each and the lead remained American at 3-1. Taking advantage of an 8 by KAMINSKI in the third set, RUBAN tied up the match at 3-3. The next set became interested for the Ukrainian when his opponent opened with a 6, leaving the door open. Despite a 7 in this set, RUBAN managed to win the two set points and take the lead for the first time of the match, 5-3. The Olympic champion was on the right trail and with a fantastic final set, 10-10-10 (!) he clinched bronze in Porec (7-3).   Recurve Women Individual – Gold Pia Carmen LIONETTI (ITA/20) v HAN Gyeonghee (KOR/3) The Korean, 18 years old, is a newcomer at the senior international level. But she is the reigning team junior world champion (Ogden 2009). Six year older, her opponent from Italy was 2nd in Porec in 2009 and 3rd in 2006 and hopes for gold this time.   Despite an opening 10, LIONETTI continued with an 8 and a 7 in the first set. With 29 points in the initial set, her opponent from Korea took the lead at 2-0. As she scored another 7 in the second set, the Italian saw HAN increase her lead at 4-0. It took a 29-point series for LIONETTI to remain in the match as the Korean also had two 10s and a 9 in the third set. Each took one set point for a score of 5-1 in favour of HAN. Shooting another 8 at her second arrow in the fourth set, LIONETTI desperately needed a 10 to keep her hopes alive. But with a 9 she left the opportunity to her contender to win the match. With a final 10 right in the middle of the target JUNG clinched gold (7-1)!   Recurve Women Individual – Bronze JUNG Dasomi (KOR/1) v KI Bo Bae (KOR/2) Porec is the first international competition for the 20-year-old JUNG Dasomi. However, together with her teammate HAN Gyeonghee who shoots for gold just after they took the place to shoot in Porec of none the less than the current world champion JOO Hyung-Jung and the lady with the most wins in the World Cup YUN Ok-Hee. JUNG's opponent of the day for bronze has more international experience. The 23-year-old KI Bo Bae was 3rd at the World Cup Final in Edinburgh last year and won the University World Championships back in 2008.   This all-Korean head-to-head was shot in the set format. JUNG took the lead 2-0 after shooting 27 points versus 26 for her fellow countrywoman. She again scored two 10s for a 29 score in the second set. Her opponent KI had two 9s and a 10 for 28 points. Taking the two points of the set, JUNG increased her lead at 4-0. In the third set the leader of the match opened with an 8, leaving the door open for her opponent to come back. With 9-10-10 KI won the two set points at stake to only trail 2-4. Same situation in the fourth set with JUNG opening with an 8 and KI getting two 10s and a 9! The latter won the two set points to tie the match (4-4) with only one set to go. In the final set the two Koreans scored 9-10-9 each for another tie (5-5) and a shoot-off coming! JUNG shot first in the tie-break and released a 9 very close to the 10-ring. KI then had a 9 also, close to the 10-ring as well. After measurement was needed, KI's arrow proved 1cm away from the 10-ring, while JUNG's was 5mm… to win bronze!   Recurve Mixed Team – Gold Korea (1) v USA (6) JUNG Dasomi is a newcomer at international level but she can rely on her teammate's experience. OH Jin Hyek is the reigning team world champion and winner of the Asian Games in November with his country. They face an experienced American pair with reigning World Cup winner and No. 2 in the world Brady ELLISON and 4-time Olympian Khatuna LORIG who just won the Arizona Cup last month.   ELLISON was back on the field after winning the team's gold with his male teammates in the previous match. Paired with LORIG in the mixed event, he took the lead after four arrows 37-36. As LORIG scored an 8 at her team's sixth arrow, the situation was reversed with Korea leading 55-54 after eight arrows. But the experienced American lady closed the half-way mark with a 10 to tie up the match at 73-73. In the third end, Korea's OH and JUNG scored another 37-point end to reach 110 points. With another 8 by LORIG at the end of this end, Team USA trailed by one with a 109 total. Proving the most consistent team on the field Korea finally clinched victory with a strong last end of 38 points and a final score of 148-146.   Recurve Men Team – Gold India (5) v USA (3) Since 2005 India and USA have faced each other nine times. The only win by the Americans was at the World University Championships last year when the match was shot in the set system format. Back to the cumulative scoring for teams will the Indians have the advantage of the format this time again?   The teams started the match with 56 points each for a tie after six arrows. The Indians TALUKDAR, RAI and BANERJEE continued with even greater shooting with four 10s and two 9s. The American KAMINSKI scored a 7 at his team's 10th arrow. His teammate ELLISON, reigning World Cup champion, kept USA in the race with two 10s in this end. The Americans trailed by three at 111-114 at the half-way mark. KAMINSKI, FANCHIN and ELLISON took advantage of two 8s by their opponents to open the third series to recover two points and get back very close at 167-168. The Indians lost focus for whatever reason and with three 8s in the final end, they saw Team USA get ahead of them to win gold 221-219.   Recurve Women Team – Gold Korea (1) v Russia (3) Korea and Russia have met five times between 2006 and 2009 with all wins by the Asian team. They did not face each other last year. Let's see if Russia can do better this time!   With three 8s in the first end BOMBOEVA, ERDYNIYEVA and STEPANOVA did not have the best possible start but they remained in the match thanks to the Korean KI who opened the match for her team with a 7. Russia trailed by one point after six arrows (53-54). With three 10s within the second end, KI, JUNG and HAN dug the gap at 110-104, their opponents scoring another 7 and an 8 in this series. Russia seemed not to believe in their chances any longer… and though HAN scored a 6 (so rare for a Korean that it is noteworthy!) at her team's 18th arrow, Korea extended their lead at 162-154. The Asian young ladies continued on a high pace with four 10s and two 9s in the last end to clinch a comfortable win 220-207.   This put an end to the first stage of the World Cup 2010. The next event will be Stage 2 in Antalya from 6-12 June. Stay tuned on www.worldarchery.org!   World Archery Communication