Youth Olympic Qualifications

The athletes must have been born between 1 January 1992 and 31 December 1993 and they must shoot a recurve bow in order to participate at these qualifications. A qualifying tournament took place in Ogden in July 2009 and there were other qualifiers in the next months to allocate a total of 32 spots per category available for the Youth Olympic Games. A country could only obtain a maximum of one place for a boy and one place for a girl. The archers earned places for their countries, not for themselves.

Athlete Entry Lists by Event Individual Junior Boys (Last update: 16 August 2010) Individual Junior Girls (Last update: 16 August 2010)   Quota Places Acquired (Last update: 1 July 2010)   Review on the qualifying tournament in Ogden Ogden (USA) – 17 July 2009    In July 2009 in Ogden a total of 85 boys and 61 girls from 42 countries entered the field with one dream in mind. Earn one of the 17 spots per category for the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games at stake in Ogden. The boys had targets at 70 metres and the girls at 60 metres.     Recurve Boys   The No. 65 seed Viljam NORDSTROM (FIN) defeated the No. 64 LIU Wei-Ching (TPE) in the 1/64 round.   Then in the 1/32 round NORDSTROM faced JANG Chaehwan (KOR), seeded No. 1. The Finnish archer challenged the Korean as they both scored an impressive 57 points in the first end! This score would be good enough to compete at the real Olympic Games! However NORDSTROM could not quite keep this level in the second end. He shot 51 points for a total of 108. JANG had 56 and moved on with his 113 score. Gasper CEHNER (SLO) and Jonathan JIMENEZ (PUR) had to go to a shoot-off. JIMENEZ had a 52-49 lead but CEHNER tied it at 100-100. The Slovenian won it with his first extra arrow, 10-8. CHU Weiyang (CHN) and Marco MORELLO (ITA) was tied at 54-54 after the first end, but the Chinese athlete scored a superb 58 points to advance to the next round with a score of 112-101.   The next round, the 1/16, decided the archers’ Youth Olympic qualification! No. 1 JANG was again challenged by his opponent Tedor TODOROV (BUL). The Korean started really well with 10-10-10 and finished the end with 9-8-9 to reach 56 points. The Bulgarian was not so consistent with 8-10-8-10-8-10, but his 54 points were still a threat to JANG. In the second end, the Korean was solid with another 56 points (9-10-10-8-9-10) and clinched the match 112-107. Other notable results included a close win of Julien ROSSIGNOL (FRA) over CEHNER, 53-53, 106-105. The No. 69 Axel MULLER (SUI) had a comeback victory against H. E. SANSORES (MEX). The Swiss competitor trailed 50-52 after six arrows but won the match 104-100. The No. 42 seed Mitch DIELEMANS (NED) also created an upset. He took a 55-52 lead over Heorhiy IVANYTSKYY (UKR) after six arrows and he managed to preserved a 2-poind victory, 109-107. Another favourite, the No. 3 Atanu DAS (IND), trailed CHU Weiyang (CHN) 51-52. However the Indian reversed the situation to clinch the match 104-101. From this round, the 16 winners could win a maximum of one place for their country. This means that there were also some lucky losers who also earned a place thanks to their high scores. A total of 17 countries earned a place!   The competition nevertheless continued for glory and to judge each competitor one year before the Youth Olympic Games. JANG (KOR) perpetuated the Korean tradition in a nice fashion. He scored 10-10-9-7-9-10 for 55 points. He had a 3-point lead over ROSSIGNOL and the Korean strengthened the gap in the second end, 113-106. WANG Hou-Chieh (TPE) had 10-8-8-9-8-9 for 52 points, while Anton KAROUKIN (BLR) had 9-9-9-8-7-9 for 51 points. At the end, WANG prevailed 108-105! The Swiss athlete MULLER trailed 52-54 against GUO Kaiqiang (CHN) and lost the match 107-109. However, the No. 69 seed must be happy. He obtained a place for Switzerland in Singapore.   In the quarterfinals, JANG, his teammate KIM Woojin and the Indian DAS won. The last match was impressive. SUNG Wookyeong (KOR) built a good lead over Jafet FARJAT (MEX) 58-53. However the score in the second half was the exact opposite 53-58! The score was tied at 111-111. In the shoot-off, both archers started with two 10s. They had to shoot a third arrow and the Mexican won the match with a 10 while the Korean had an 8!   The Korean dual turned at the advantage of KIM in the semifinal. He dominated JANG all the way: 29-27, 58-55, 86-84 and 116-111. In the other semifinal, DAS had the upper hand over FARJAT. The Indian took a 2-point lead after three arrows, 29-27. He increased the gap at three points (57-54, 84-81) and kept a 2-point victory 109-107.   JANG beat FARJAT for the bronze, 28-27, 58-55, 85-82 and 111-108.   The match for the honorary first place was dominated by KIM. He led DAS 28-24, 57-52, 85-80 and 114-109.   Recurve Girls   Mariana AVITIA is already a hero in her country as she was the youngest member of the Mexican delegation at the Beijing Olympic Games. However, she could not help her country gain a spot in the Youth Olympic Games today. She lost in the 1/32 elimination round 48-50, 97-105 against Gloria FILIPPI (ITA).   As for the men, the 1/16 round was decisive for the 17 spots at the Youth Games. The No. 9 seed Lidia SICHENIKOVA (UKR) was challenged by the No. 24 Ozge TOZER (TUR). They were tied at 56-56 after six arrows but the Ukrainian prevailed 110-107. The No. 1 HAN Gyeonghee (KOR) also shot a high-scoring match against Joanna GORCZYCA (POL). The Korean led 56-51. The Polish competitor closed the gap in the second half, although she lost 107-109. The No. 28 seed Maud CUSTERS (NED) was on her way to an upset of the No. 5 OH Damee (KOR). The Dutch athlete led 56-55 after six arrows but the Korean struck back with 58 points in the second end. She won 113-107. Finally, there was a breathtaking shoot-off. Mizuki HAYASHI (JPN) and Alma CHAVARRIA (MEX) were tied at 51-51 and then at 100-100. In the shoot-off, the Mexican prevailed 8-5. This single arrow was the difference in the Olympic dream of both girls.   In the 1/8 round, HAN trailed Anna BOMBOEVA (RUS) 55-56. However the favourite came back in the second half to clinch the match 110-107. SICHENIKOVA was stopped by her teammate Iryna DUBAS. The later led 56-55 and kept shooting strong in the second end and won 112-109. OH and YU Jangmi (KOR) had the highest scores of the end with 114 points.   HAN was consistent in the quarterfinals. She shot another 109-point match to beat DUBAS who had 104. CHEN Szu-Yu (TPE) and OH offered a superb quarterfinal. They were tied at 28-28. Then CHEN scored X10-10-10 to build a 2-point lead, 58-56. Then both archers had 10-10-9. The score was 87-85 in favour of CHEN and she managed to keep a 2-point victory at the end, 115-113! ZHU Jiani (CHN) beat Tatiana SEGINA (RUS). The score evolved 29-28, 59-57, 86-84 and 114-112. Finally, YU beat Miranda LEEK (USA).   In the semifinal, HAN beat CHEN 109-102. The match between ZHU and YU was much closer. Both archers were tied at 29-29. Then ZHU build an advantage 57-55, 85-82. Although YU tried hard in the last end, ZHU held a 1-point victory 111-110.   YU led 27-26 in the bronze medal match and then scored a perfect 30 to increase the gap to 57-54. She even increased her advantage by one more point at the end and beat CHEN 114-110!   HAN took the lead 29-26 in the gold medal match; however, ZHU completely reversed the situation in the second end and took the lead 55-52. At the end, she kept a 2-point victory 109-107!   Didier MIEVILLE FITA Communication