DE PELLEGRIN wins Paralympic gold medal!

The Italian Oscar DE PELLEGRIN crowned a magnificent career with an individual Paralympic title in Recurve Men W1/W2. Russia got a full house on the podium in Recurve Men Standing! The medal matches at the archery competition of the London 2012 Paralympic Games started today! The four men’s categories were in action, beginning with the W1/W2 and Standing categories in the morning. The athletes shoot their semifinals and then either the bronze or gold medal matches. Every individual archery match at the London 2012 Paralympic Games is the best of 5 sets of 3 arrows. There are 2 points per set to be earned. The first archer to 6 six set points wins the match! If the regulation number of sets (5) ends at 5-5 set points, there is a one-arrow only shoot-off, closest to centre wins! Here some commentaries from the field! Recurve Men W1/W2 It was the first match of the day between the No. 1 seed TSENG Lung Hui (TPE) and the No. 4 seed Oscar DE PELLEGRIN (ITA). A lot of 9s were shot in the first two sets of this match. TSENG went out of the 9-ring twice and DE PELLEGRIN only once, thus taking the advantage 3-1 in set points. DE PELLEGRIN seemed to have taken a strong lead, when he shot the first 10 of the match in the third set. However, he finished it with an 8. TSENG took the opportunity by scoring a 10 of his own and tied the match at 3-3 in set points. TSENG scored 9-7-9 in the fourth set, but the DE PELLEGRIN was slightly better with 9-8-9. He regained the lead, 5-3. TSENG needed to put pressure in the fifth set. He started with a 9. DE PELLEGRIN scored an 8. TSENG had another 9. DE PELLEGRIN a 9. TSENG finished with an 8. The Italian had the opportunity to win the match with a final 9. He scored a 10! Finally, the battle between the Paralympic record holder and the world record holder turned in favour of DE PELLEGRIN who booked his place in the gold medal match! The second semifinal was between the No. 2 seed Ebrahim RANJBARKIVAJ (IRI) and the surprising No. 19 Hasihin SANAWI (MAS). They shared the points of the first set with 24-24. Both archers raised their game in the second set. The Iranian had 9-10-8, but the Malaysian scored a perfect 10-10-10 to take a 3-1 lead. However, RANJBARKIVAJ (IRI) was more consistent in the third and fourth set. He won them 26-23 and 26-24 to turn the situation over and take a 5-3 lead. In the fifth set, SANAWI scored 8-10-10. RANJBARKIVAJ started it with 9-10 and needed a 10 to win. He was unable to get it (scoring a 7) and SANAWI tied the match at 5-5! Shoot-off! RANJBARKIVAJ shot first: an 8. SANAWI scored a 10 and upset the No. 2 seed! The No. 1 and No. 2 seeds had to play for bronze! TSENG took the best start winning the first two sets 26-25 and 29-28. RANJBARKIVAJ came back “halfway” by winning the third set 28–26. The Iranian needed to put pressure in the fourth set but he only scored 9-9-8. TSENG started with 8-10 and needed a 9 to win! He scored an 8. Tied set and TSENG led 5-3. RANJBARKIVAJ started the fifth set with an 8. TSENG hit the bull’s eye (the very centre of the target!) to score a 10! The Iranian finished with 9 and 8. TSENG scored a perfect final set (10-10-10) to win the first medal of the archery competition at the London 2012 Paralympic Games! Flag bearer for Italy at the Opening Ceremony, individual bronze and team gold medallist in the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games, sixth time Paralympian (1992 and 1996 in shooting and since 2000 in archery), winner of several medals at the world championships, DE PELLEGRIN had his chance to the “grail”: an individual Paralympic title! He shot the final against SANAWI. The Italian started the match like he had been waiting all his life for this moment: 10-10-10 and a 2-0 lead. DE PELLEGRIN also won the second set 26-22, 4-0! Two points away from gold! The third set was a bit hectic: 8-8-7 for SANAWI and 8-7-7 for DE PELLEGRIN. The Malaysian came back at 2-4. SANAWI found some rhythm in the fourth set scoring 10-9-9. The Italian has 8-10-9, tied match at 4-4! DE PELLEGRIN started the deciding set with a 9. SANAWI responded with a 9. The Italian had a 9. SANAWI a 10! DE PELLEGRIN finished with a 10! SANAWI needed a 10 to win gold—he scored a 9. Tied set, tied match, shoot-off! One arrow only for each archer, 20 seconds to shoot, and the closest to the centre wins the gold! DE PELLEGRIN scored a 9. SANAWI had an 8. DE PELLEGRIN is the new Paralympic champion! Recurve Men Standing Russian dual in the first semifinal in this category: the No. 9 seed Oleg SHESTAKOV (RUS) played against Mikhail OYUN (RUS). SHESTAKOV took a 4-0 lead in set points, but he shot a “Miss” in the third set, allowing OYUN to come at 2-4. OYUN scored 9-9-8 in the fourth, while SHESTAKOV had 9-8-9*. Would the 9* become a 10? Yes, said the judge (the arrow just touched the line) and SHESTAKOV won it 6-2! In the second semifinal, a third Russian, the No. 2 seed Timur TUCHINOV, was against the one-armed archer and No. 11 seed Eric BENNETT (USA). The athletes traded the first two sets, 2-2. The athletes kept it close in the third set until BENNETT finished with a 4. TUCHINOV took a 4-2 lead. BENNETT needed to put pressure when he started the fourth set, but he scored 7-7. TUCHINOV built a lead with 9-8. BENNETT finished courageously with a 9, but TUCHNIOV did not miss his opportunity. A final 9 got him a place in the gold medal match against his teammate SHESTAKOV. In the bronze medal match, OYUN took the opportunity to complete a 1-2-3 podium for Russia! He was simply better than BENNETT, winning 6-0 (27-24, 25-23, 27-26). Congratulations to the American archer for a superb competition! Congratulations to Russia for owning the podium in this category! The two teammates SHESTAKOV and TUCHINOV battled it out for the gold medal. They traded the first two sets, 2-2. SHESTAKOV dropped a 5 with his last arrow on the third set. TUCHINOV took the set (26-22) and the lead, 4-2. Both archers started the fourth set with 8-10. Then SHESTAKOV scored a 9, leaving TUCHINOV with the opportunity to score a 10 to win the match. TUCHINOV’s arrow went just outside the 10-ring! Tied set, but TUCHINOV kept the advantage 5-3. SHESTAKOV needed to win the last set to go to the shoot-off, but he lost his last chances when he shot a “Miss” with his second arrow (the second of the day actually). He had 8-0-9 on the set. TUCHINOV finished on super fashion anyway with 9-9-10. Match score: 7-3, gold medal! Compound Men W1 and Compound Men Open are up this afternoon! World Archery Communication