Koreans breezed through individual recurve elimination matches

The names of the Wroclaw finalists are now known, and so are the names of most World Cup finalists. In each category, the top seven archers of the season are qualified for Paris, with a maximum of two athletes per country; in each category they will be joined by an eighth archer from host country France to be named.
Recurve MenThe Korean men, who had dominated qualifications, performed brilliantly today: all four of them reached the semi-finals (main photo). OH Jin Hyek, the Olympic champion and top performer this season, easily won his first matches against Joe FANCHIN (USA), CHEN Hsin-Fu (TPE) and Juan-Ignacio RODRIGUEZ (ESP). Then, in the semi-finals, after a tie at 4-4 his teammate JIN Jae Wang ended OH’s winning streak by taking the last set, 30-29 (6-4).
The other semi-final featured LEE Seungyun against IM Dong-Hyun, who defeated Brady ELLISON (USA) 6-2 in the previous round. It was an important match for both of these athletes: whoever lost it would be out of the World Cup Finals race. Both archers tied at 4-4, and then the 18-year old LEE won the final set over his more experienced teammate. LEE will face JIN for the gold medal, while IM and OH will shoot for the bronze medal.
Recurve Men - World Cup FinalsOH Jin Hyek (KOR), Mauro NESPOLI (ITA), ZHANG Jianping (CHN), Brady ELLISON (USA), DAI Xiaoxiang (CHN) and Khairul Anuar MOHAMAD (MAS) are qualified for the Finals. The second Korean spot will go either to LEE Seungyun or JIN Jae Wang, depending on the result of Sunday’s final. The French wild card is likely to go to Gaël PREVOST (FRA), who is the top French archer in the World Cup ranking.
Defeats that occurred in the 1/16 rounds today ended the hopes of Juan-René SERRANO (MEX) and Jeff HENCKELS (LUX). The athlete from Luxembourg, in the race following his silver medal in Medellin, could have qualified for Paris if not for a lost shoot-off against Bolot TSYBZHITOV (RUS). 
Recurve WomenAs on the men’s side, the Koreans were well above the other archers. Competition was fierce between YUN, JOO and KI, to determine which two athletes would qualify for the World Cup Finals. The three ladies reached the semi-finals. To get there, JOO Hyun-Jung (KOR) defeated a string of champions: Olympic bronze medallist Mariana AVITIA (MEX) in the first round, followed by Medellin champion Inna STEPANOVA (RUS) in the 1/8 round and finally Olympic silver medallist Aida ROMAN (MEX) in the quarter-finals. She met double Olympic champion KI Bo Bae in the semi-finals, and this time the task was too hard for JOO. KI trailed initially but made the difference by winning the second and third sets: 6-4. 
On the other side of the bracket, YUN Ok-Hee (KOR), the top performer this season, easily won her matches over Viktoriya KOVAL (UKR), Karina LIPIARSKA (POL) and world N°2 Deepika KUMARI (IND). In the semi-finals, she met the only non-Korean still competing: Alejandra VALENCIA (photo) from Mexico, who had outscored the fourth Korean, CHANG Hye Jin, in a shoot-off (10*-10) in the previous round. In the semi-finals, VALENCIA and YUN won two sets each, and victory came down to the fifth set. A bad series of 9-9-8 by the Mexican archer gave the win to the YUN. She will face KI for the gold medal.
Recurve Women - World Cup FinalsYUN Ok Hee (KOR), Deepika KUMARI (IND), CUI Yuanyuan (CHN), Inna STEPANOVA (RUS) and Aida ROMAN (MEX) have secured their spots to Paris. The medal matches in Wroclaw will reveal the names of two more qualified athletes for Paris. Firstly, there is a competition between JOO Hyun-Jung (KOR) and KI Bo Bae (KOR) to be the second Korean to qualify for the World Cup Finals: if JOO win the bronze medal on Sunday, she earns the spot; KI must win the gold and hope that JOO loses the bronze in order to travel to Paris. The seventh and last qualifying spot will go to Alejandra VALENCIA (MEX) or Miranda LEEK (USA) depending on the Mexican archer’s result in Sunday’s bronze medal match: if she wins the bronze, she earns the final spot, but if she loses it, it will go to LEEK. The French wild card will be decided shortly.
Compound MenToday the performance level of the compound men was exceptional. The day belonged to the Europeans, who swept the four semi-final spots. Top qualifier Sergio PAGNI (photo) from Italy defeated Dave COUSINS (USA) in the quarter-finals. In semi-finals his opponent was Dominique GENET (FRA), who had defeated no less than Americans Braden GELLENTHIEN, world N°2, and Reo WILDE, N°1 in his previous matches.
On the other side of the draw, Alexander DAMBAEV (RUS) and CHOI Yong Hee (KOR) shot the tightest quarter-final match of all. After a tie at 149-149, the Russian was slightly superior in the shoot-off (10*-10) to advance to the semi-finals against World Games runner-up Pierre-Julien DELOCHE (FRA).
No less than three men shot perfect scores of 150 in the semi-finals! DELOCHE outscored DAMBAEV by 5 points to advance to his second straight gold medal match after the World Games. In the other semi-final, PAGNI and GENET ended in a tie at 150-150, and the Italian archer won the shoot-off with a 10 closer to the centre than his opponent’s. 
Compound Men - World Cup FinalsAll eight finalists are known in this category. Today’s outstanding performances by French athletes Dominique GENET and Pierre-Julien DELOCHE means that they have both entered the top seven of the World Cup ranking and grabbed a spot for the Finals in their home country. The other finalists are Braden GELLENTHIEN (USA), Reo WILDE (USA), Martin DAMSBO (DEN), Sergio PAGNI (ITA), Patrick LAURSEN (DEN) and MIN Lihong (KOR).
Georg DOLLINGER (AUT), who had held the last qualifying spot prior to Wroclaw, lost it because of a defeat in the round of 24. Morten BOE (NOR) and Peter ELZINGA (NED) also suffered losses in the 1/16 round, which ended their hopes of traveling to Paris.
Compound WomenErika JONES (USA), who displayed her superb form with two gold medals and a world record at the World Games, impressed again today. She defeated Natalia AVDEEVA (RUS), Melanie MIKALA (GER) and Pascale LEBECQUE (FRA), each time by a comfortable margin to reach the semi-finals against CHOI Bomin (KOR). JONES shot her best score of the day (148) to defeat the Korean archer with a six-point margin. Despite losing this match, CHOI had something to look forward to – if she wins the bronze, she will take the last qualifying spot at the World Cup Final. 
Meanwhile, Kristina BERGER (GER), who had to shoot well to secure a spot to Paris, did not disappoint, despite the difficulty of the task: she defeated, successively, Carli COCHRAN (USA), Marcella TONIOLI, and Medellin champion Alejandra USQUIANO (COL) to advance to the semi-finals. Her Russian opponent Albina LOGINOVA (photo), the double world champion, had just qualified in a shoot-off over Anastasia ANASTASIO (ITA). BERGER and LOGINOVA shot a very tight semi-final match; the world champion took an initial lead but was soon matched by BERGER, and the two athletes remained tied arrow after arrow for the rest of the match. LOGINOVA won the shoot-off. In the final, she will face Erika JONES, and try to recover the top spot of the world ranking that the American archer stole from her earlier this summer.
Compound women - World Cup Finals The athletes already qualified are Erika JONES (USA), Sara LOPEZ (COL), Albina LOGINOVA (RUS), SEOK Ji Hyun (KOR), Kristina BERGER (GER) and Alejandra USQUIANO (COL). If CHOI Bomin (KOR) wins the bronze on Saturday, she takes the last spot; if she loses the bronze, the last spot goes to Pascale LEBECQUE (FRA), and France receives a wild card for a second athlete that could be given to Sophie DODEMONT, next French athlete in the World Cup ranking.
Stay tuned on our website to follow the team eliminations of the Wroclaw World Cup tomorrow.
World Archery Communication