Compound men's World Cup champion already out!


  In the morning session the recurve division shot two rounds (1/48 and 1/24 eliminations), while there was only one in compound (1/24). The "survivors" then caught up in the afternoon with the top 8 from qualifications in each category who were pre-seeded in 1/16 (exempt from first two rounds). They then strove to continue through to the next rounds up to the semi-finals to be among the finalists shooting on the Antalya beach on Saturday.   Recurve Men – 1/48 The Frenchman Thomas AUBERT (No. 22) was not as successful as in Shanghai three weeks ago where his final ranking was 4th. He suffered a straight defeat in the first round in Antalya, 0-6 against the low seeded archer Daniel CIORNEI (ROU/91).   AUBERT's teammates Romain GIROUILLE, Thomas FAUCHERON (18) and Gael PREVOST (54) all qualified for the second round. The No. 15 GIROUILLE beat Guillermo AGUILAR GIMPEL (CHI/98), 6-4. Seeded No. 18, FAUCHERON had a comfortable victory 6-2 over Frederik SONNICHSEN (DEN/95). PREVOST, No. 54, defeated Sebastian ROHRBERG (GER/59), 7-3.   The No. 85 seed Dan OLARU (MDA) upset the No. 28 Elias MALAVE (VEN), 6-2 in the first round. Another low seeded competitor, Aki VIRTANEN (FIN/80) gave a hard time to the No. 33 seed Jacob WUKIE (USA). After a tie 1-1 in the first set, VIRTANEN took the lead at 3-1. He was only one set point away from victory when he reached 5-1. But he shot an 8 in both the fourth and fifth sets, which allowed his U.S. opponent to come back (5-3) and tie (5-5). In the shoot-off, WUKIE scored a 9, and with a 10 VIRTANEN ultimately won this match.   The athlete from Ivory Coast Rene Philippe KOUASSI was seeded No. 79 beating his personal best in the qualification round. Qualified for the London Olympics thanks to his victory in the African Continental Qualification Tournament back in March, KOUASSI started his match against the No. 39 Rick VAN DEN OEVER (NED) as the outsider. However, he drove his opponent from the Netherlands into a corner and even won the first set (2-0). The two archers were then tied at 2-2, VAN DEN OEVER took the lead at 4-2, and there was another tie at 4-4 with one set to go. Unfortunately for him, KOUASSI scored two 8s in the last set that cut his hopes short (4-6).   Recurve Men – 1/24 The No. 11 seeded archer from China XING Yu was upset in the second round after a shoot-off in which he shot a 9. His opponent, the Frenchman PREVOST, scored a 10 in the tie-break to go on to 1/16 elimination. PREVOST's teammate GIROUILLE, seeded No. 15, conceded surprising defeat, after a shoot-off he lost 9-10 against Luis A. ALVAREZ (MEX/50).   The all-Anglophone match between the 1992 individual and team Olympic bronze medallist Simon TERRY (GBR/36) and Joe FANCHIN (USA/29), winner of the individual Shanghai World Cup Stage in 2010, turned to the advantage of the U.S. archer, 7-1. TERRY's teammate Laurence GODFREY (12), for his part, qualified for the 1/16 round after a 7-3 victory over Juan Rene SERRANO (MEX/60).   There was an all-Mongolian face-to-face in the second round. Jantsan GANTUGS (23) and Gombodorj GAN ERDENE (71) could not decide on the winner after five sets (5-5). The shoot-off arrow turned in favour of the lowest seeded competitor who scored a 10 versus an 8 for his teammate.   Recurve Women – 1/48 Alison WILLIAMSON (GBR), who is still in the race for a sixth successive Olympics (the final British selection will be announced on 9 May), came back from a four set point deficit in her first match. Ranked only 80th after qualifications, she faced the No. 33 Veronika HAIDN TSCHALOVA (GER) in the 1/48 elimination. Trailing 1-5 after three sets, WILLIAMSON came back to 3-5 and tied at 5-5. Her shoot-off arrow was a 10 for victory against an 8 for her opponent.   WILLIAMSON scored points off her teammate, Charlotte BURGESS (No. 45), with Olympic qualification in mind. BURGESS was eliminated by Alexandra MIRCA (MDA/68) 6-2 in the first round.   The two other British ladies already selected for the Olympic Games on home ground next summer won their first match. Amy OLIVER (50) had a straight victory 6-0 over Nathalie DIELEN (SUI/63), and Naomi FOLKARD (26) beat Khatuna NARIMANIDZE (GEO/87) on the score of 7-3.   Besides WILLIAMSON's, there were two other matches decided on a shoot-off. Odette SNAZELLE (AUS/77) and Lidiia SICHENIKOVA (UKR/36) both released a 9 in the tiebreak but the Aussie's was closest to the centre for victory. On the adjacent two targets, Luminita SARBU (ROU/83) upset Bishindee URANTUNGALAG (MGL/30) 10-8 in the shoot-off.   Recurve Women – 1/24 Surviving the first round after a four set point deficit, the Briton WILLIAMSON was not as successful in the 1/24 elimination. She was shown the exit by Anastasia (UKR/32) PAVLOVA who clinched a straightforward victory 6-0. WILLIAMSON's teammates FOLKARD and OLIVER had better fate with wins over Elena TONETTA (ITA/74) and Maja BUSKBJERG (DEN/15), 7-3 and 6-4 respectively.   In a Latin American encounter, the reigning world champion from Chile Denisse Astrid VAN LAMOEN (53) was defeated in the second round by the Mexican Aida ROMAN, 6-2. Team world champion, Natalia VALEEVA (ITA/11) was also upset 6-2 in this round by an archer from Chinese Taipei seeded No. 54, LIN Chia-En. ROMAN's teammate Mariana AVITIA (MEX/27) was defeated by a lower seeded contender, Sareh ASADI (IRI/75). The Iranian clinched victory 6-4.   After a 6-2 victory in the 1/48 round, the Swiss representative Valentine DE GIULI, No. 41, had some a hard time against Alice INGLEY (AUS/89). The surprising Australian defeated the No. 24 Ekaterina TIMOFEYEVA 6-0 in the first round. The second round between DE GIULI and INGLEY was tied at 1-1 and then at 4-4, even though the Swiss representative led 3-1 and 4-2. In the fifth set the two young ladies (21 and 19 years old) shot two 8s each, but their other arrow in the final set was a 9 for the Aussie and a 10 for the Swiss.   Compound Men – 1/24 Rodger WILLETT JR. (USA/20) won almost every event of the World Cup last year: individual winner in Porec, Antalya and Ogden, team winner in Porec, Antalya and Shanghai, and champion of the World Cup Final in Istanbul, but the 2012 World Cup season is different. In Shanghai in April, the American was defeated in the 1/16 elimination and finished 17th. In Antalya today, he was eliminated one round earlier by Julio Ricardo FIERRO (MEX/45). The Mexican is not an unknown as he was 2nd at the World Cup in Shanghai three weeks ago.   In a close encounter between the No. 31 Chris WHITE (GBR) and the No. 34 Patrizio HOFER (SUI) the two competitors opened with a perfect end (10-10-10) each. The Swiss then took a 1-point lead (59-58) that he doubled (89-87) after three ends. HOFER gave himself a fright with a 7 in the fourth end, but WHITE could not take advantage of it and remained 1-point behind (115-114). The Briton finished the match with an 8 and a 27-point end to reach 141 points. With a close-to-perfect final series of three arrows (10-10-9), his opponent from Switzerland clinched victory (144).   Compound Women – 1/24 The match between the No. 32 Diana TONTOEVA (RUS) and the No. 33 Runa GRYDELAND (NOR) was not as tight as expected. The Norwegian clinched victory by five points, 146-141. In this round, there was an all-Indian encounter between PARVEENA (41) and Lily Chanu P. (24). In this match the lowest seeded archer was victorious by 139-135.   Seeded 17th, Linda OCHOA (MEX) was upset in her first match defeated 137-142 by Irene CUESTA (ESP/48). Another of the top seeded archers, Petra GOEBEL (AUT/13) was also prematurely kicked out. The Austrian lady suffered defeat 141-143 against V. Jyothi SUREKHA (IND/52).   Natalia AVDEEVA (RUS/22) could not take revenge over Laura LONGO (ITA/43) who beat her in their first two encounters. The Russian was defeated by the Italian at two European Grand Prix in 2010, Yerevan, Armenia and Moscow, Russia. In Antalya today, she was close but still conceded a third defeat with 141-142.   The competition continues in the afternoon with the next rounds, from 1/16 to the semi-finals for all four categories.   Stayed tuned at www.worldarchery.org!   World Archery Communication