3 compound men tie on 710 atop Shanghai qualifying

Three compound men tied on 710 out of 720 points at the top of the ranking round list at the first stage of the 2018 Hyundai Archery World Cup in Shanghai, on a cold, damp morning through which no single archer stood out.

Kim Jongho took the first seed with 31X, Mike Schloesser second with 28X and Abhishek Verma’s 18X put him in the third spot ahead of eliminations.

“It’s really challenging weather. I had some struggles in the first half; I shot some really good shots and they were just out,” said Schloesser, explaining that the wind direction was constantly switching left to right.

“I couldn’t explain them: they were really good shots and they were out – so I was thinking, ‘what am I doing?’.”

“I was really hoping for more.”

Braden Gellenthien, Choi Yonghee, Martin Damsbo and Kris Schaff took fourth to seventh.

Kim Taeyoon, the third Korean archer in the top-seeded men’s team with Jongho and Choi, was leading at the halfway point. 

He ended up winning a three-way shoot-off with Reo Wilde and Roberto Hernandez for eighth place and the last bye into the third round.

World number one Stephan Hansen did not make the trip to compete in at Shanghai 2018. World Archery Champion Sebastien Peineau of France qualified 17th with 699 points, following a late arrival, after official practice, due to flight delays.

The first stage of the Hyundai Archery World Cup takes place in Shanghai, China on 23-29 April.