Turkish cadets shoot world record, take bronze

By the trio’s own admission, their first match wasn’t to the level they wanted. 

Turkey was the top qualifier in the compound cadet men’s competition and had a bye all the way through to the semifinals, which would be against Great Britain. The Brits took points in the first and third ends to finish two points up on Turkey after 24 arrows shot. 

Both teams finished with 59-point series. 

Emre Erkus took the blame for the loss: “I didn’t shoot well. My teammates tried their best, but I shot badly.” 

“It made us angry. We came to Yankton to win the world championships. But I forgave myself and the team used that anger in the bronze medal match.”

The three boys, all under 18 years old, subsequently dropped a huge score on Mexico. 

A whopping 235 out of 240 points would normally be enough to win most matches at a senior event – and it was eight points more than the cadet’s world record in the competition. 

Mexico was left standing, and Turkey took bronze. 

But the boys had more work to do. They shook hands and ran over to the next match along where their nation’s junior women had a tiebreaker against Great Britain to shoot.

Both Brit and Turkish athletes and coaches screamed as the two teams took to the line.

They had drawn in regulation sets after an unlikely comeback from the Brits had seen Turkey squander a three-point lead in the last end. 

The Turkish support was louder and the score better as British anchor Kirsten George put in a seven with her last arrow. An arrow in the gold would have won it. 

It meant another bronze medal for Turkey – 27-26 in the shoot-off – and a second fourth-place finish for Great Britain, after the British compound cadet girls were beaten by Australia in their bronze medal match. 

There will be more podiums for both Turkey and Great Britain during the Yankton compound finals, though. 

Turkey’s compound junior men’s team beat Mexico in the semis to grab a gold final berth. Mexico was then relegated to fourth by Italy in the bronze medal match. There was just a point in it: 225-224.

Great Britain will shoot for the cadet men’s title.