Turkey puts 3 into home soil finals in Antalya

Champion of the 2015 Hyundai Archery World Cup Demir Elmaagacli, Evren Cagiran, Samet Can Yakali and Yesmin Bostan all made it into the quarterfinals in Antalya.

Demir shot against Croatian archer Domagoj Buden. Both openend the match with 30 points and then, after the second, Demir led Domagoj by one. In the third and fourth ends, Demir closed posted two 28s, giving a two-point advantage to Yankton 2015 Youth silver medallist who maintained the advantage until the end.

“I started good, but then, in the third and fourth end I had two nines in each. I thought they were going to be 10s, so I can’t really explain what happened,” said Demir.

Although sad for not making the finals on home soil with his other teammates, Demir was extremely happy about his teammates, Evren and Samet, who will contest the gold medal match.

“We have never shoot for a gold medal match here, it’s great! They are all making us proud in this moment, it’s a really good feeling,” he added.

Neither Evren nor Samet had ever won an individual medal in the Hyundai Archery World Cup. Yesim Bostan shot for bronze in Antalya two years ago but lost the match against Janine Meissner from Germany.

Here’s how they made it into the finals this year…

1. Samet Can Yakali

Seeded 18th in Antalya, Samet first upset South African men Patrick Roux and Seppie Cilliers in the fourth and quarterfinal rounds, respectively. He contested the semis against world number one Mister Perfect Mike Schloesser.

Samet and Mike were tied from beginning to end. One-arrow shoot-off was needed to define the winner. Mike shot a nine, Samet a 10. All his teammates, coaching and volunteer staff at the event, celebrated it. “Turkey, Turkey,” they sang.”

“It was so exciting! I did it, I beat him and I won. We won, wow!” exclaimed Samet. “ I promised myself that I was going to give my best to be in the finals here in Antalya. I thought about it before, so making it possible it’s really exciting.”

His opponent for gold, teammate Evren…

2. Evren Cagiran

“I’ve been shooting this competition with Demir’s bow. Probably that brought me luck, you know, he’s Hyundai Archery World Cup Champion,” said Evren, smiling. “I had trouble with my bow in official practice and I decided it was better to use another one. I didn’t have a spare one but Demir did, so I took his.”

Evren, who won a silver medal at the World University Championships in Mongolia just one week before Antalya, was seed 45th. He shot an average of 145 points through all his six individual matches. To move into the quarters, he beat Roman Haefelfinger from Switzerland in a one-arrow shoot-off.

3. Yesim Bostan

Qualified 13th, Yesim had a bye through the first round. In the second one, she upset teammate Evrim Saglam by a gap of 11 points, 147-136. Her next three matches were against South Africa’s Jeanine Van Kradenburg, Colombia’s Aura Bravo and Kristina Heigenhauser from Germany – who she beat by 10 points, 142-132.

Against Dahlia Crook from the States, she lost by one. Tied after two ends, Yesim shot two nines in the third against Dahlia’s three 10s. In the fourth, Dahlia shot an eight and Yesim shorted the difference to one, but there was nothing she could do to the 16-year-old lady from the States who finished with another three 10s.

“Two years ago, in 2014, I lost my bronze medal match, so I really hope this time I can win it, I really want. I feel like I can do it, we’ll see how it goes on Saturday,” she said.

Yesim meets Marcella Toniolli for the bronze, then Dahlia Crook and Sara Lopez shoot for gold.

Follow live on Saturday 18 June at www.worldarchery.org and www.archery.tv.