FABRY finally Paralympic Champion!

After three individual world titles and two Paralympic bronze medals, FABRY won the gold medal at the London 2012 Paralympic Games in the Compound Men W1 category, after avoiding a disaster in his semifinal! In Compound Men Open, Jere FORSBERG (FIN) beat the archer with no arms, Matt STUTZMAN (USA) in an incredible final! The medal matches at the archery competition of the London 2012 Paralympic Games started today! The four men categories were in action. In the afternoon, the Compound Men W1 and the Compound Men Open entered on the field. 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 ends at 5-5 set points, there is a one-arrow only shoot-off, closest to centre wins! Here are our live commentaries from the field! Compound Men W1 In the opening match of the afternoon session, the No. 1 seed David DRAHONINSKY (CZE) beat the No. 5 Osmo KINNUNEN (FIN) 6-0 (29-23, 28-23, 29-23), despite the support, once again, in the tribune of the President of Finland Sauli NIINISTÖ. Jeff FABRY (USA) had the best start in the second semifinal, taking the first set 28-26. FABRY had also to shoot a 10 with his last arrow of the second set to tie it. He did and led 3-1 in the match, but he broke his bow (the cable came off)! Therefore FABRY could not shoot the third set while he was trying to get his replacement bow from the warm-up field. MURPHY tied the match at 3-3. FABRY was back on time for the fourth set! He started it with an 8. MURPHY had an 8. FABRY scored a 9. MURPHY another 8. FABRY scored a 10 to take the lead again, 5-3! MURPHY had to win the last set to go to a shoot-off, but he was not able to put enough pressure on FABRY. MURPHY had 6-7-9 and FABRY concluded the match with 8-10-9 for a 7-3 victory. The first medal of the afternoon was played between KINNUNEN and MURPHY. The Canadian had the best start, taking the first set 25-24 and tying the second one 27-27. KINNUNEN could not find his rhythm in this match, scoring 8-7-8 in the third. MURPHY was better with 10-6-9 and took a commanding lead, 5-1. KINNUNEN had to win the two remaining sets to force a shoot-off. He started the fourth with a 10, while MURPHY scored 7. The Finnish then had a 7 of his own and MURPHY took advantage of it by scoring a 10. KINNUNEN finished the match with an 8. MURPHY did not miss the opportunity, scoring a 9 to win the bronze medal! The No. 1 seed DRAHONINSKY played the No. 2 seed FABRY for gold! And the journey to the final had not been easy. DRAHONINSKY is the defending Paralympic champion, while FABRY was world champion in 2003, 2005 and 2007! He was also the bronze medallist at both the Athens and the Beijing Games! The Czech athlete started with 9-10-10 but FABRY was perfect with 10-10-10! DRAHONINSKY scored 29 points in the second set, while FABRY had 26. The match was tied at 2-2. DRAHONINSKY scored 10-8-9 in the third, while FABRY, who pulls the string of the bow with his teeth, scored 10-9-10 to take a 4-2 lead. DRAHONINSKY was unable to put enough pressure on the fourth set with 8-10-9. FABRY shot 10-9-10 and finally became Paralympic champion!! What a crown to a fantastic career! Compound Men Open The barefoot archer (and with no arms!) Matt STUTZMAN (USA) was back in action this afternoon after stunning the crowd since the beginning of the competition. He scored 9-9-9 in the first set, which allowed Guillermo GONZALEZ RODRIGUEZ to take a 2-0 lead with 29 points. The scores were however reversed in the second set (29-27 for the American) and the match was tied at 2-2. STUTZMAN opened the third set with a 10 that was matched by RODRIGUEZ. The American followed with an 8 and the Spaniard took the advantage with a 10. STUTZMAN finished this set with a 9. RODIGUEZ got an 8, enough to take the set and lead 4-2. STUTZMAN had 9-9 and a most welcome 10 to win the fourth set, while RODRIGUEZ had 10-8-8. STUTZMAN tied the match at 4-4, which was going into a deciding set! STUTZMAN started with a 10. RODRIGUEZ had a 9. STUTZMAN another 10. RODRIGUEZ a 9. STUTZMAN finished with a 10 for a perfect set and took his spot in the final! The No. 3 seed Dogan HANCI (TUR) played the No. 2 seed Jere FORSBERG (FIN) and the latter had the better start: 27-26 and 29-28 to lead 4-0. HANCI needed to raise his game if he wanted to stand a chance. He started the third set with a 9. FORSBERG shot a 10. HANCI got a 10. FORSBERG a 9. HANCI finished the set with another welcome 10, but it was matched by FORSBERG. The set was tied and the Finnish athlete kept leading, 5-1. HANCI continued shooting first in the fourth set and started with a 9. So did FORSBERG. HANCI got an excellent 10 with his second arrow, while FORSBERG dropped an 8. HANCI took this opportunity with another 10 in this set. He won it to come back at 3-5 in the match. HANCI kept trailing and started the fifth set with an 8 that would be costly. FORSBERG scored a 10. HANCI finished with 10-10 putting some pressure. However FORSBERG did not shake. He also finished with 10-10 for a perfect set and won the match 7-3! For the bronze medal match, RODRIGUEZ and HANCI traded the first two sets. Then the Turkish archer had a perfect 10-10-10, while RODRIGUEZ could only reply with a 10-9-10. HANCI led 4-2. Both archers started the fourth set with 9-9. Then RODRIGUEZ scored a 9, leaving HANCI with the opportunity to shoot a 10 to win the match! The Turkish athlete did it! Bronze medal! The No. 1 seed STUTZMAN led the way one more time in the final match and started with a 9. The No. 2 seed FORSBERG shot a 10. The American finished with 10-10. The Finnish athlete kept it perfect with two more 10s and led 2-0. STUTZMAN started the second set with a 9. Then he had 8-9. FORSBERG continued to shoot really well with 10-10-9 and took a commanding lead 4-0. STUTZMAN, who shoots holding the bow with a barefoot and a mechanical releaser on his shoulder (he has no arms), started the third set with 9-9. FORSBERG had 9-10. STUTZMAN, again, shot a 10 when he really needed it! FORSBERG could still win it with another 10, but shot a 9. Tied set, the Finnish kept the lead at 5-1. STUTZMAN scored 10-9-9 in the fourth, while FORSBERG had 8-9-9: 5-3! STUTZMAN started the fifth set with a 10! FORSBERG replied with a 10. STUTZMAN shot another 10. So did the Finn! STUTZMAN scored another 10 for a perfect set! FORSBERG had also to shoot a perfect set to win the gold. He had to shoot one last 10. He did! FORSBERG became the new Paralympic Champion! And STUTZMAN probably a very special champion in the hearts of many, many archery fans who discovered him during these Paralympic Games. Congratulations to STUTZMAN. Congratulations to FORSBERG! What a high level of shooting! Tomorrow the women will play for their individual medals. World Archery Communication

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