Oscar DE PELLEGRIN bows out with gold on a day of drama

Equipment ended up being the hot topic of the day. The sizzling weather was welcomed by most, bar Guillermo RODRIGUEZ GONZALEZ (ESP), who struggled to adapt his bow in the heat and left him in fourth place in the compound open.

Jeff FABRY (USA), who eventually won gold in the men’s compound W1, gave the crowd a scare in his semifinal when he dropped his bow after the second set, breaking the cam and snapping his string. Uncharacteristically for FABRY, he had entered the field of play without his spare, so he missed his third set entirely while he retrieved it from the athletes’ area. Fortunately, it did not prevent him from going on to beat semifinal opponent Norbert MURPHY (CAN).

The final equipment discussion point came to the fore after FABRY won his final against Czech archer David DRAHONINSKY, who noted his opponent using a spirit level to aid his shooting. The rule permitting use of spirit levels was introduced in 2011 in the republished version of the archery rule book, but this was not noticed by the Czech federation until August 2012, by which point it was deemed too late to introduce into DRAHONINSKY’s shot routine. Recurve Men W1 and W2 The day started with Italy’s Oscar DE PELLEGRIN (photo) looking well within his comfort zone beating TSENG Lung Hui 7-3. DE PELLEGRIN took the first set and never looked in trouble.

The next semifinal was not so decisive. It took a one-arrow shoot off to decide whether Ebrahim RANJBARKIVAJ (IRI) or Hasihin SANAWI (MAS) would be going through to fight for the gold. In the end, it was SANAWI who took the advantage, shooting a 10 in the dead centre. RANJBARKIVAJ could only answer with an 8, sending him into the bronze medal match to face TSENG.

In the battle for bronze, TSENG got off to a strong start, winning the first two sets against RANJBARKIVAJ. RANJBARKIVAJ responded, winning the third set and managing a tie on the fourth. TSENG produced a perfect 30 in the fifth and final set to finish the match and win the bronze medal.

For Oscar De PELLEGRIN, London is his sixth and final Paralympic Games. In his first set of the gold medal match he shot a perfect 30. Although Malaysia’s Hasilin SANAWI opened with two 10s, his third shot was a 7, giving DE PELLEGRIN the set. SANAWI went 4-0 down before unleashing some great shooting to bring the match to an exciting 4-4 tie. The athletes then matched each other shot-for-shot to score 28 each, resulting in a one-arrow shoot-off for paralympic gold. DE PELLEGRIN shot first and got a nine, leaving SANAWI needing to shoot a perfect 10 to win. He shot and hit the eight, handing DE PELLEGRIN the gold in his final competition before retirement.
Recurve Men Standing
Mikhail OYUN (RUS) v Eric BENNETT (USA) in the bronze final was a rapid match, with OYUN winning the bronze 6-0 in straight sets. Eric BENNETT (USA) was considering his future after missing out on a medal. With OYUN’s win and his teammates, SHESTAKOV and TUCHINOV, both in the gold final, Russia had the full triumvirate, winning all three medals in the men’s recurve standing class.

Both Oleg SHESTAKOV and Timur TUCHINOV (photo) were in great form and exchanged sets in the beginning, neither athlete wishing to give up on his gold medal chance. It was 5-3 in favour of TUCHINOV and still all to play for when an uncharacteristically poor shot from SHESTAKOV failed to hit the target and left TUCHINOV to shoot his last arrow in the 10 to take the title and the gold in style.

Compound Men W1

World ranked No.1 David DRAHONINSKY gave a masterclass in archery to beat Finland’s Osmo KINNUNEN 6-0 and take his place in the final.
 

The USA’s Jeff FABRY did not have such a smooth transition into the final. After the last shot of the second set against Norbert MURPHY (CAN), FABRY dropped his bow, rendering it unusable. The competition continued without him while he went to retrive his spare bow, enabling MURPHY to win the third set 24 points to zero. FABRY returned to just in time for the fourth set and went on to win the match 7-3 to meet DRAHONINSKY in the final.

The bronze medal match was a one-sided affair with MURPHY not loosing a single set in his 7-1 win against KINNUNEN.

FABRY entered the field for his gold medal match against DRAHONINSKY, this time with a spare bow in hand. DRAHONINSKY opened with a 29 only to be beaten by a perfect 30 from FABRY in reply. DRAHONINSKY then won the second set with another 29, but it would be his last set win, as FABRY took the next two to win 6-2.

Compound Men Open

Matt STUTZMAN (USA), ranking round No.1, continued his run of close-run matches as it went down to the fifth and final set against Guillermo RODRIGUEZ GONZALEZ (ESP). When the pressure was on, STUTZMAN delivered a perfect 30 to win the set and head to the gold medal match in his first Paralympic Games.

STUTZMAN was joined in the final by Jere FORSBERG (FIN), who was cheered on to victory against Dogan HANCI (TUR) by the president of Finland, Sauli NIINISTO (FIN). The match ended 7-3.

RODRIGUEZ GONZALEZ’s bronze medal match against Dogan HANCI started with the athletes taking one set apiece, but then HANCI pulled ahead and won two sets in a row to take the match 6-2 and win the bronze.

STUTZMAN and FORSBERG returned to the field for the final gold medal match of the day. FORSBERG pulled ahead 4-0, but STUTZMAN came back to tie the third set, leaving the score 5-1 going into the fourth. STUTZMAN seemed to refocus on the 10, winning the fourth set to make the score 5-3, followed by a perfect 30 on the fifth. However FORSBERG was able to match STUTZMAN’s 30 with one of his own, winning the match and seeing Finland awarded gold.

Source: PNS
Edited by World Archery Communication