Review of Wednesday morning's matches

Last day of 1/32 and 1/16 eliminations at Lord's Cricket Ground on Wednesday. Viktor RUBAN (UKR) was successful in his first two rounds and will be a tough contender as he defends his Olympic title. Read the review of all matches below. Men – 1/32 Eliminations Mauro NESPOLI (ITA/11) v CHEN Yu-Cheng (TPE/54) NESPOLI was part of the successful Italian team on Saturday. He is 29th in the world but is seeded No. 11 of the individual competition after Friday's ranking round. The Italian scored two times 27 points at the beginning of the match, but he was outshined by two times 28 by his opponent and trailed 0-4 after two sets. NESPOLI stayed alive when it was his turn to shoot 28 in the second set and he came back 2-4. He could do no better than 26 in the fourth set, and CHEN achieved the first upset of the day in the very first match, winning 6-2 with 28. Viktor RUBAN (UKR/43) v LIU Zhaowu (CHN/22) RUBAN begins the defence of his Olympic individual gold medal against a higher seeded archer. RUBAN has had a mixed time since the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and is not favourite to win gold again. What a start for the still reigning Olympic champion with 10-10-10! Despite an opening 8 in the second set, RUBAN managed to tie the set (28-28) and kept the advantage (3-1). The two athletes scored two 9s and an 8 in the third set, sharing the set points at stake. The gap remained (4-2), and RUBAN was only two set points away from a win. CHEN shot three times 9 in the fourth set, his second arrow very close to the 10-ring but not touching the line however. With 27, he tied again the score of his opponent to keep his chances alive (3-5). As the Chinese scored 26 in the final set, after two 8s, RUBAN needed a 10 to tie the set and win the match. The Ukrainian released a 9, though, and lost the set. Draw and tie-break! The shoot-off arrow was a 9 a bit high for CHEN. The Olympic champion RUBAN's experience spoke at the end and he clinched victory with a 10. DAI Xiaoxiang (CHN/7) v Klemen STRAJHAR (SLO/58) The 21-year old Chinese start as favourite of this match, he who was the runner-up of the 2011 World Cup Final in Istanbul. He takes on an even younger competitor, who will turn 18 in a few weeks from now. STRAJHAR was consistent with three times 25 in this match, but such scores were one notch below those of this opponent. DAI clinched a three sets victory 6-0 with 28, 29 and 28 sets. Milad VAZIRI TEYMOORLOOEI (IRI/39) v Luis Eduardo VELEZ (MEX/26) The two archers faced each other twice in 2011. It was at the Porec World Cup and Shenzhen Universiade, and each time the Iranian was the winner. He is 16th in the world ranking and starts as favourite although his opponent from Mexico is higher seeded from the ranking round. After sharing the first set 25-25, VELEZ showed strong performances in the second and third sets that he won 28-26 and 29-28 to lead 5-1. The Mexican repeated with another 29 set and clinched a straightforward 6-0 win. OH Jin Hyek (KOR/3) v Axel MULLER (SUI/62) The Korean, who has a team bronze medal already, starts his individual campaign against the 20-year old Swiss representative. OH took an early lead 4-0 with five arrows out of six in the gold ring in the first sets. In spite of a 10 to begin the third set, there was no miracle for MULLER, who followed with 8 and 6. Three sets victory for OH, 6-0! Yavor Vasilev HRISTOV (BUL/35) v Luis ALVAREZ (MEX/30) ALVAREZ is in great form, as he won the last World Cup in Ogden, USA in June and qualified for the World Cup Final in Tokyo next September. The Mexican came up to expectations, shooting eight arrows out of nine in the gold ring to clinch a straight three sets win. Men – 1/16 Eliminations CHEN Yu-Cheng (TPE/54) v Viktor RUBAN (UKR/43) CHEN upset the No. 11 seed and newly crowned team Olympic champion Mauro NESPOLI (ITA) in the first round. He now faces the 2008 Olympic champion. As in the previous round, RUBAN opened the match with a very strong first set (29) and took the lead 2-0. In spite of a 7 at the end of the second set, The Ukrainian doubled his lead at 4-0. After he was led to a shoot-off in his first round match, RUBAN clinched a straightforward, convincing victory 6-0 with 29 points in the third set. DAI Xiaoxiang (CHN/7) v Luis Eduardo VELEZ (MEX/26) The two competitors had straight 6-0 victories in the first round against Klemen STRAJHAR (SLO) and Milad VAZIRI TEYMOORLOOEI (IRI). The highest ranked DAI scored two times 27 points (26 and 25 for VELEZ) to take a 4-0 lead. As the Mexican could not improve his scores and shot 25 again, his opponent scored 28 and clinched his second 6-0 win in a row. OH Jin Hyek (KOR/3) v Luis ALVAREZ (MEX/30) The two archers met for the team bronze final on Saturday, when Korea clinched victory over Mexico for an Olympic medal. ALVAREZ withstood pressure in the first set as he needed a 10 at his third arrow to draw (28-28). His opponent from Korea scored 29 points in the second set, against 27, and took the lead 3-1. Fantastic third set for ALVAREZ with three perfect shots to tie the game, 3-3! As OH scored 9-9-10 and ALVAREZ started with 8-10, the Mexican once again needed a 10 to keep the draw. He scored a 9 and let the fourth set go, trailing 3-5. ALVAREZ started the final set with two perfect shots, but his opponent resisted with 9 and 10. With a final 10, the Mexican would have forced a shoot-off… But he released an 8, leaving the door open… With a 9, OH tied the set and won the one set point that he was missing (6-4). Women – 1/32 Eliminations Ksenia PEROVA (RUS/9) v Nada KAMEL (EGY/56) The Russian won the individual European Olympic qualifier in May to qualify for these Games. She is world No. 9 and seeded No. 9 as well in London. Her opponent from Egypt is 143rd in the world ranking and won the African qualification tournament in March. The ranking difference proved two high in this first women's match of the day. PEROVA clinched a three straight sets victory 6-0. KWON Un Sil (PRK/41) v Natalia VALEEVA (ITA/24) The experienced Italian is 8-time world champion, 6-time Olympian and 2-time Olympic bronze medallist (1992 Barcelona). She had a difficult start in her first match, however, with two 6s in the first set, and trailed 0-2. VALEEVA then found two times the 10-ring in the second set to come back 2-2. The two archers then scored 28 each and the match was still undecided 3-3. KWON went on with 27 in the fourth set. Her opponent scored two 9s and needed a 10 to win the set. What she did to take the lead for the first time of the game, 5-3. VALEEVA was the most consistent with four times 28 (after 20 in the first set). She clinched a deserved victory, 7-3. FANG Yuting (CHN/25) v Ika Yuliana ROCHMAWATI (INA/40) The Chinese is world No. 3 and finished 2nd of this year's World Cup in her country (Shanghai). Her contender from Indonesia qualified for London 2012 winning the Asian Olympic qualifier event in October 2011. The two ladies remained tied in the first two sets, shooting 27 each times for a draw 2-2. FANG's performance improved in the third set and she scored 29 points, winning the set and taking the lead 4-2. But the Chinese scored only 23 points in the fourth set and let her opponent come back at 4-4. As her opponent put two arrows out of the gold ring (7 and 8), ROCHMAWATI did not miss her chance and with 28 points was the surprise of this match (6-4). Amy OLIVER (GBR/57) v Deepika KUMARI (IND/8) World No. 1 KUMARI will hope to improve on India's poor archery form so far. She faces world field champion OLIVER, who will have the support of the home crowd and is capable of causing an upset. The home favourite won the first set 27-26 and led 2-0. As her opponent repeated with 26 and she herself started the second set with two 9s, OLIVER needed a 9 to win it and lead 4-0. The Briton released a 4 (!) however, and KUMARI tied the game at 2-2. The Indian could not do better than four times 26 in this match. Her opponent clinched the third and four sets with each time 27. Victory for GBR 6-2! Marie-Pier BEAUDET (CAN/29) v Louise LAURSEN (DEN/36) The Dane just missed out the medal at the Indoor World Cup Final in Vegas this year, finishing 4th. Her opponent from Canada won the Americas qualification tournament to qualify for her third Games. After the two competitors were tied 26-26 in the first set (1-1), BEAUDET scored two times 24 points. Not enough against 25 and 26 for her opponent, who took the lead 5-1 after three sets. The Canadian stayed alive thanks to a 28-point fourth set, coming back at 3-5. She could not keep the same performance in the final set with 25 points. LAURSEN clinched a 7-3 win with a final 27 points. Sherab ZAM (BHU/61) v Khatuna LORIG (USA/4) LORIG, in her fifth Olympics, meets inexperienced ZAM, who carried the flag for her country in the Opening Ceremony and is one of two Bhutan athletes at the Games. Difficult start for the low seed ZAM who opened the match with 6 and 7. She found the gold (a 9) at her third arrow, but this was not enough against LORIG's 28 points. Both had a 6 in the second set, but LORIG scored two 9s also, against 8 and 7 for ZAM, and led 4-0. The competitor from Bhutan scored 6-9-7 in the third set, while her opponent repeated with 26 for a victory 6-0. Women – 1/16 Eliminations Ksenia PEROVA (RUS/9) v Natalia VALEEVA (ITA/24) The two ladies met once this year, but it was at the Indoor World Championships in February. VALEEVA won their semifinal duel 6-4 on her way to an eighth world title. As in her previous round, the Italian faced a difficult start. She only scored 24 points and let the first set go, 0-2. VALEEVA did better in the second with 27, but her opponent scored a higher score of 29 for a 4-0 lead. The experienced Italian improved her score with 28 and won the third set to stay alive at 2-4. But an opening 7 in the fourth sounded the death knell for VALEEVA… PEROVA shot all three arrows in the gold for 28 points and victory 6-4. Ika Yuliana ROCHMAWATI (INA/40) v Amy OLIVER (GBR/57) The two competitors have upset higher seeded archers in the previous round. ROCHMAWATI beat No. 25 FANG Yuting (CHN), while OLIVER defeated world No. 1 and No. 8 seed Deepika KUMARI (IND). The crowd's favourite made a difficult start with 24 and 23 points in the first two sets against two times 28 for her opponent. OLIVER trailed 0-4. The Briton managed to put pressure on ROCHMAWATI with 28 points in the third set. The Indonesian started the set with two 10s and needed a 9 to win. She scored an 8 and shared the set points for a lead at 5-1. The fourth set was a thrill! The two archers scored 10-10 each, but OLIVER opened the door with an 8. ROCHMAWATI repeated with another perfect shot to clinch a 7-1 win to the disappointment of the grandstands. Louise LAURSEN (DEN/36) v Khatuna LORIG (USA/4) As the rain started to fall over Lord's Cricket Ground for the final match of the morning, the 5-time Olympian and No. 4 seed LORIG started as favourite of this game. The American made the best start with 27 points to win the first set and lead 2-0. He was caught up however, when she shot only 22 in the second set (2-2). The draw remained after they scored 24 points each in the third set (3-3). LORIG directed his efforts in the fourth end, achieving two 10s and a 9 to lead 5-3. As LAURSEN pushed hard and tried to come back, LORIG needed a 10 to draw the fifth set and win the match. What she did for a 6-4 victory! World Archery Communication