Three world records to start Antalya World Cup Stage 2

  IM was impressive finishing with a total of 696 after 72 arrows in the men's individual event. Together with his teammates OH Jin Hyek and KIM Woojin, he also set a new team world record with 2069. And the 20-year old Spaniard Juan I. RODRIGUEZ beat the 70m Round junior best score with 682.   Besides, the No. 1 in the world Brady ELLISON's score of 690 was a new U.S. national record. The American finished runner-up of the qualifications. The Italian Mauro NESPOLI also set a national record with his 689 points which offered him 3rd place.   Recurve division shot in the morning, while compound athletes followed in the afternoon. All the athletes shot 72 arrows in qualifications, recurve at 70 metres and compound at 50 metres. The qualification and elimination rounds are being held in the Antalya Archery Club's venue for the sixth time. The finals will then take place over the weekend for the third time on the Antalya beach.   Antalya has hosted the Archery World Cup every year since it was launched in 2006, this year being the seventh edition. With a total of 388 competitors (211 men and 177 women) this event is one of the largest World Cup ever.   Recurve Men Olympic, World and World Cup champion IM Dong-Hyun (KOR) has been one of the top recurve archers for almost a decade. Even better, he is shooting with considerably low eyesight! IM can see 10% of what a person with perfect vision can see, but he does not wear corrective glasses or contact lenses during competition. IM relies on "feel" when he shoots. And what a feeling in the first half of the qualification round in Antalya! With a score of 351 after 36 arrows, IM not only topped the provisional ranking but had his own world record (693 set at London Test Event in October 2011) in his sight. If he maintains this path, he could be the first one to exceed the 700 barrier for the 70m Round.   Second at the half-way mark was IM's teammate KIM Bubmin with 346, closely followed by the world No. 1 archer and World Cup champion Brady ELLISON (USA) with 344. Two competitors followed with 343 each: Romain GIROUILLE (FRA), and Rahul BANERJEE (IND). Then were DAI Xiaoxiang (CHN), the two Italians Michele FRANGILLI and Mauro NESPOLI, and the two other Korean representatives, OH Jin Hyek and KIM Woojin, all with the same score of 342.   IM had 583 with two ends to go. He scored 57 (four 10s, one 9 and one 8) to reach 640 before the last six arrows. The Korean therefore needed all 9s (54 points) at least in the last end to set a new world record. Or a perfect 60 to reach 700 points! He achieved three 10s, two 9s and one 8, totalling 56 points that beat the world's best mark by three: 696! He said about his finish: "It's not standard to shoot in such a situation but I'm familiar with it because I do train a lot to manage the pressure in every situation. I considered the 700 score at the very last end. I needed a perfect 60 with the last six arrows and it wasn't easy. At the first arrow of the last end I shot an 8, so I focus only on my performance and to be careful not to lose other important points."   IM added about his performance: "It was a surprise to break the world record again. I knew I could do it, but it's all the time a surprise to reach such a result. In the last two ends I tried to focus mainly on my shooting and not to think about the results in order to finish the competition at the same level as I shot till that moment."   In his last junior year at 20 years old, Juan I. RODRIGUEZ from Spain beat the 70m Round junior world record on his way to the 8th place, finishing with 682. This is two points better than the previous mark set by the Korean BAEK Jong-Min in 2001. Being in the top 8 means the young Spaniard is pre-seeded in 1/16th elimination (exempt from first two rounds).   Behind IM in the ranking were the American ELLISON 2nd with 690 and the Korean OH 3rd with 689. The Italian NESPOLI finished with the exact same score (same number of 10s and Xs) as OH but was ranked 4th after a coin toss. Five and six points behind were the two remaining Korean KIM Woojin (684) and KIM Bubmin (683) at 5th and 6th places. The second Italian FRANGILLI finished 7th with 682 points. In this category, there was a shoot-off for the last qualifying place (104th) between Dominik FABER (SUI) and Alexandru BODNAR (ROU) won by the Romanian competitor 9-6.   Recurve Men Team With two competitors on top of the provisional ranking half-way through and two in the top 8, Team Korea led the qualifications with 1039 points (the three best scores count). With such a score the Koreans were also still in the race to beat their own world record set at the World Cup Stage in Shanghai 2010 with 2043. Italy was provisionally 2nd with 1022 and France 3rd with 1016.   The Korean team made up of IM Dong-Hyun, OH Jin Hyek and KIM Woojin added a third world record to the day with a total of 2069 points after 216 arrows (3 x 72). They topped qualifications 29 points ahead of Italy (2040) and 45 points ahead of China (2024). The last two qualifying spots (15th and 16th) were clinched by the Russia and the local team Turkey with 1967 each, just two points before Germany (1965).   Recurve Women The Korean favourites placed their four ladies in the top 7 after the first half. The 2004 Olympic team champion and individual silver medallist LEE Sung Jin was 1st provisionally with 339 points. Her teammates CHANG Hye Jin and the new No. 1 archer in the world KI Bo Bae were 3rd and 4th with 336 and 334 respectively. The fourth representative, CHOI Hyeonju (3rd in Shanghai), was ranked 7th with 333. The 2012 world indoor champion and several time world champion Natalia VALEEVA (ITA) was 5th with the same score as KI.   The lady from Chinese Taipei LE Chieh-Ying was the surprise half-way through qualifications, 2nd with 338. Another surprise was Maja Buskbjerg JAGER (DEN) who placed 6th provisionally with 333. A third lady had scored 333 after 36 arrows: XU Jing (CHN), 8th.   LEE maintained her lead with the second best score of the second half (330) and finished 1st with 669 after 72 arrows. Her fellow CHANG improved by one rank, 2nd with 667, as she proved the best in the second part of qualifications (331). Chinese Taipei's LE managed to stay in the top 3 with 661 despite scoring the 13th score in the second half. The third Korean KI and the Chinese XU finished 4th and 5th respectively, with 658 points each. Jennifer NICHOLS (USA) came up from 10th to 6th place with 656, while Alejandra VALENCIA (MEX) also improved from 9th to 7th place with 655. The last top 8 place went to another archer from Chinese Taipei, TAN Ya-Ting, with the same score as the Mexican.   VALEEVA, JAGER and CHOI were kicked out of the top 8 after they scored the 22nd, 32nd and 24th scores of the second half, respectively. In this category, the last qualifying place (104th) was for Lenka HARCARIKOVA (SVK) with 575, six points ahead of Dobromira DANAILOVA (BUL) with 569.   Recurve Women Team With 1009 points, the Korean team easily topped qualifications at the half-way mark. Seventeen points behind (992) were Chinese Taipei, followed by China (987). At that time, the last qualifying place for eliminations was for Switzerland, 16th with 939, nine points ahead of the local team of Turkey.   The Koreans managed to keep a very comfortable lead and topped the team's qualifications with 1994, ahead of Chinese Taipei 2nd with 1962 and China 3rd with 1957. Switzerland gained one ranked compared to the first half, 15th with 1851, while Turkey went down from 17th to 18th place finishing with 1837. The last qualifying spot was clinched by Spain with 1849.   Recurve Mixed Team With no surprise the Korean double finished on top of the ranking with IM and LEE totalling a score of 1365. Second were USA's ELLISON and NICHOLS with 1346, six points ahead of Italy's NESPOLI and VALEEVA (1340). The last qualifier spot went to the mixed team from Belarus (1296) by two points as Venezuela was 17th and Iran 18th with 1294 each.   Stayed tuned at www.worldarchery.org!   World Archery Communication