YOG athletes already in elite World Ranking lists

  FITA has updated its World Ranking lists this week. Some of the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) athletes appear in very good position. Moreover, one of the coaches present in Singapore also made it to the top at his time of glory.   While some of these young archery athletes experienced their first true international high-level encounter at the YOG Ranking Round of the archery competition, some others have already climbed almost at the top of the elite world. The palm goes, of course, to KWAK Ye-Ji (KOR), currently seeded 7th in the world, while Marianna AVITIA (MEX) is 15th. On the coach side, the Dutchman Wietse VAN ALTEN, and Athlete Role Model in Singapore, was the No 1 in the world back in August 2004.   Recurve Junior Men The best Recurve Junior Men archer in the current elite world ranking list is Emdabul HAQUE MILON Md. from Bangladesh thanks to a series of good results in the Asian Grand Prix. He is ranked 58th in the world and his top result is a 2nd place at the Dakha Grand Prix in 2009. He also ranked 11th in Bangkok 2010, 8th in New Delhi 2009 and 16th in Teheran 2009. Moreover, HAQUE MILON went to the International Archery Training Centre in Egypt to prepare for the Singapore event thanks to Olympic Solidarity support.   Rick VAN DEN OEVER (NED) is 61st in the world and had two strong results recently. He was 9th at the 2010 Porec World Cup and 17th at the 2010 Rovereto European Championships. Mark NESBITT (GBR) currently sits at 72nd position thanks to his 6th place in Rovereto. Atanu DAS (IND) stands on the 108th place in the world ranking. He was 3rd at the Taipei City Grand Prix in 2010, 10th in Kuala Lumpur 2010 and 13th in Bangkok 2009. The local archer Abdud MOHAMED JAFFAR (SIN) is 167th in the world thanks to a 17th place in Taipei City and a 19th rank at the Asian Championships in Bali last year. KU Yuan-Hsiang (TPE) is 222nd with a 5th place in Kuala Lumpur 2010, while Benjamin NOTT (AUS) is 226th with a 9th place at the Australian Open 2009 in Yamambat. Tsukushi KOIWA (JPN) is 379th in the world.   Recurve Junior Women KWAK Ye-Ji (KOR) had come as high as No. 2 in the world ranking until May 2010. The current team world champion, individual silver medallist at the world championships, winner of the 2009 World Cup Final is now ranked No. 7. Mariana AVITIA (MEX), who finished 8th at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and was the youngest member of the whole Mexican delegation, is currently No. 15. Her individual results also include a 6th place at the 2010 Porec World Cup and an 8th place at the 2009 Santo Domingo World Cup.   TAN Ya-Ting (TPE) is No. 69 in the world and she placed 9th at the recent Ogden World Cup in August 2000 and 4th in the Taipei City Grand Prix this year. Tatiana SEGINA (RUS) won the cadet (under 16) category at the 2008 Youth World Championships in Kundu-Antalya. Then she was 22nd at the 2009 Ulsan World Championships, 22nd at the 2009 Shanghai World Cup and 5th at the 2009 Riom Grand Prix. The local archer Vanessa LOH (SIN) sits at the 102nd place in the world ranking. She was 17th in Taipei 2000, 20th in Bangkok 2000, 21st at the Asian Championships in Bali 2009 and 5th in Dakha 2009. Miranda LEEK (USA) is ranked No. 136. She won the El Salvador Olympic Festival in 2009 and ranked 17th at the Arizona Cup 2010. Farida TUKEBAYEVA (KAZ) is ranked No. 124. She was 38th at the Ulsan World Championships in 2009 and 9th in an Asian Grand Prix this year. Alice INGLEY (AUS) is No. 180 in the world, Mai OKUBO (JPN) is 239th, and Seema VERMA (IND) is 333rd.   Finally, Zoe GOBBELS (BEL) has not yet earned points in the world ranking, but she is the recent youth field world champion, a discipline slightly different than the target archery being shot in Singapore. Lidiia SICHENIKOVA (UKR) is not ranked either but she won bronze in cadet at the 2008 World Archery Youth Championships.   Coaches Some of the coaches at the Youth Olympic Games had themselves quite a career. The Dutch coach Wietse VAN ALTEN has in fact been chosen as the Archery Athlete Role Model for these Games. Not only was he ranked No. 1 in the world just before the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, but he also won an individual bronze medal in Sydney 2000. He won numerous medals at top archery competitions throughout his career.   Spain's coach Almudena GALLARDO has also participated in the Sydney and Athens Games and won the European Championships in this same city in 2006. Henrik TOFT (DEN), Samo MEDVED (SLO) and Irina LEONOVA (KAZ) are former Olympians. For instance, all of them shot in Atlanta. Viktor BACHMANN was the Olympic coach for Germany from 1992 to 2004! He won a silver medal in Atlanta 1996 and a bronze in Sydney 2000 with the women team. He is now the director of youth development for the German Archery Federation. Krzysztof WLOSIK (POL) was 10th at the Moscow 1980 Games.   Last but not least, Singapore coach PARK Young-Sook (KOR) participated in the Los Angeles 1984 Olympic Games. She shot at the world championships in 1983 and she held the world record at 30m at the time with 353 points out of 360. She is now a FITA International Judge and has come to Singapore to build a team for the future.   Didier MIEVILLE World Archery Communication