Top three women’s recurve archers out of contention

Across the men and women’s competition, Russia were fielding a large contingent and, not wanting to disappoint, of the six potential semifinal spots up for grabs by Russia’s archers, five were snapped up.      Recurve Men Standing   The day started in exciting fashion with Zafer KORKMAS (TUR), who had knocked out Paralympic record breaker Kenny ALLEN (GBR), taking on Oleg SHESTAKOV (RUS). The scores were tied at 4-4 after the first four sets, promtping SHESTAKOV to take matters into his own hands, scoring 28 out of 30 in the fifth and final set to beat KORKMAS 6-4.

The second Russian archer of the day, Mikhail OYUN (RUS) followed teammate SHESTAVOV’s victory with another great result by beating Ukraine’s Yuriy KOPIY 6-2.

USA’s Eric BENNETT beat his opponent Oguzhan POLAT (TUR) 7-3 in an evenly-matched contest up until the final set, in which BENNETT produced a near-perfect 29 to secure his semifinal place.

Timur TUCHINOV (RUS) made short work of his draw against Roman CHAYKA (UKR), winning 6-0 in three sets to move into the semifinal stages where he will face teammate SHESTAKOV on Monday.
     
Recurve Women Standing   The returning Beijing finallists were in action today. As anticipated, the match between gold medallist LEE Hwa Sook (KOR) and Magali COMTE (SUI) was closely-fought. LEE went 4-0 down but made a great comeback to win the next three ends in style to keep her title defence on track.

Beijing silver medallist GAO Fangxia (CHN) delivered one of the shock results of the day, losing in straight sets to Javzmaa BYAMBASUREN from Mongola. British athlete Sharon VENNARD photo, even with the help of a supportive crowd, was not able to win a single set point against China’s YAN Huilian, losing 6-0.

The closing match of the morning between Milena OLSZEWSKA (POL) and world No.2 Irina BATOROVA (RUS) was heading for a shoot-off until BATOROVA faltered with a uncharacteristic and competition-ending three from the first arrow of her final end, leaving OLSZEWSKA a 6-4 winner.
  Compound Men Open   
It was an all-American affair with top ranked Matt STUTZMAN photo taking on his teammate Dugie DENTON in what turned out to be a very close contest in the men’s compound open. After four ends, the pair were both on four set points and a win was within DENTON’s grasp. But an eight with his final shot let STUTZMAN win the set 29-28 to take the match 6-4.

Silver medallist from Beijing, Alberto SIMONELLI (ITA) was not able to continue his medal hopes and narrowly lost to Guillermo RODRIGUEZ GONZALEZ (ESP) 6-4. The pair tied the first three sets, and RODRIGUEZ GONZALEZ taking the fourth ended up being the deciding result, after they then went on to tie the fifth and final set.

Turkish archer Dogan HANCI (TUR) looked releaved to beat world No.9 Peter KASCAK (SVK), given the 13-place ranking gap between the pair. The match went to a five-set battle that ended 7-3 in HANCI’s favour.

Jere FORSBERG (FIN) opened with a perfect end of 30 and never looked back, seeing off Leos BARTOS (CZE) 6-0.
        
Compound Women Open  
The grandstands were packed for home crowd favourite Danielle BROWN (GBR), who faced Maria RUBIO LARRION (ESP). It was a closer match than BROWN would have wished for, with many tied ends. However a 10 in her final end helped her clinch a 6-4 victory.

Marina LYZHNIKOVA (RUS) wasted no time in beating world ranked No.2 Gulbin SU (TUR) 6-0. SU could not fight back after being beaten by 10 points in the first end.

Great Britain’s archer Mel CLARKE not only won her match against Japan’s Miho NAGANO 6-4, but was treated to a crowd-rousing rendition of Happy Birthday for turning 30 on the day she made it through to the semifinals. CLARKE needed a perfect end of 30 to win and that is what she shot. CLARKE will face Stepanida ARTAKHINOVA in the next round.