Bostan goes for gold: is it finally her time?

Turkey’s Yesim Bostan once again proved her exceptional skills at working her way through a high-end compound women field, finally eliminating Korean top seed So Chaewon in a tight semifinal and giving the home nation an individual finalist in Antalya. 

Bostan had local advantage at the second stage of the 2018 Hyundai Archery World Cup.

“I have a lot of experience on this field because I have shot many national and international competitions here. At the beginning of the competition, I set my mind to be in the gold final, to improve on previous performances here, and I made it work,” she said.

“This is important because I’m in my home country, but even more because winning it will mean that I can shoot in the World Cup Final. Winning now has a better meaning.”

A new rule was introduced at the start of the season to see top finishers at each of the stages qualify automatically for the Hyundai Archery World Cup Final.

Ranked number four in the world arriving in Antalya, Bostan has collected a series of huge silver medals.

She finished second at the World Archery Championships in Mexico City at the end of 2018 and then followed that up with the same spot on the podium at the World Archery Indoor Championships in early 2017.

For gold in Antalya, Yesim will face the USA’s Paige Pearce Gore and will be looking to secure her first individual major win in international competition on Friday. 

Chinese Taipei’s Chen Yi-Hsuan, who lost the gold medal match to world number one Sara Lopez at stage one in Shanghai in April, will make her her second final arena appereance in a row, this time for the bronze medal.

“I took so much experience from the World Cup last year,” said 22-year-old Chen. “This year it’s been about technique and physical condition. I’m going to give it my all-time best on Friday.”

The second stage of the Hyundai Archery World Cup takes place in Antalya, Turkey on 20-26 May.