Dutch men dominate in recurve team final

Sjef van den Berg, Jan van Tongeren and Steve Wijler of the Netherlands beat Li Jialun, Sun Quan and Wang Dapeng of China, five set points to one, to the recurve men’s team gold medal at the third stage of the 2018 Hyundai Archery World Cup in Salt Lake City, USA.

“In the past couple of World Cups we couldn’t get our rhythm to be following in the competition, so to go home with a gold medal is a really good feeling,” said Wijler.

The Dutch men landed only two of their arrows out of the yellow ring, opening with a 58-point set and then scoring a pair of 56s – to China’s 56, 53 and 56.

“We just had to shoot strong shots and in this wind you have to have the feeling where you are going to aim and just do your best and try to shoot a 10,” added Jan.

At the end of the third set, the Dutch team had two of their arrows marked with a star, meaning the judge was required to check whether the shafts had cut the line. If either was upgraded – then they would split the third set and win the match.

The first, an eight, was confirmed out, but an arrow on the left of the 10 was called in, securing them the match, 5-1.

“I was ready to shoot the next end. It was always going to be a good feeling if we could win it. It was nice we didn’t have to shoot that last one,” said Sjef.

Malaysia’s Haziq Kamaruddin, Khairul Anuar Mohamad and Muhammad Akmal Nor Hasrin beat Italy’s Mauro Nespoli, Michele Frangilli and Marco Morello in a shoot-off for the recurve men’s team bronze medal.

The third stage of the Hyundai Archery World Cup takes place in Salt Lake City, USA on 18-24 June.