British para-archer Danielle BROWN winner in Nimes

Danielle BROWN (GBR), winner in compound women The 15th Tournament of Nimes took place last weekend in front of a crowd of 2000 spectators, who witnessed exciting shooting displayed by the best archers in the world. This event was also the second stage of the Indoor Archery World Cup after Singapore in December. Recurve The recurve men final was an exciting match between the French archer Franck FISSEUX and the huge favourite and defending champion Brady ELLISON (USA). The American archer opened the final with an 8, but his opponent couldn’t capitalise on it and suffered an 8 as well, for a tie at 1-1. ELLISON shot a perfect score of 30 in the second set, against 28 by FISSEUX (3-1). The French archer came back to 3-3 thanks to a perfect third set of 30 (ELLISON shot 29). Both men then displayed a perfect set of 30 points each and ended up in a tie at 5-5. In the shoot-off, ELLISON scored a 10 closer to the centre than FISSEUX’s, for his second straight title at this Tournament. In the bronze medal match, Rick VAN DER VEN (NED) had to go to a shoot-off to defeat the young Italian archer Massimiliano MANDIA, 6-5.
The recurve women final featured the surprising Belgian archer Olena KUSHNIRUK, who was 9th in qualifications and defeated Natalia VALEEVA (ITA) in quarterfinals, and the German Lisa UNRUH, winner of the tournament in 2005 and 2007. After a very close match, UNRUH emerged as the winner 6-4 – for what is also her third victory in Nimes. Great Britain’s Naomi FOLKARD settled for 4th place after losing the bronze medal final to Russia’s Ksenia PEROVA, 6-2. Compound The men’s competition was dominated by the top-seeded archers: Sergio PAGNI (ITA), who won the title in 2006 and 2008, faced American Dave COUSINS in the gold final. A very focused and accurate PAGNI won the final 6-2 for an impressive hat-trick. In the final for bronze, the American Braden GELLENTHIEN defeated his fellow countryman Reo WILDE 6-4 for 3rd place. On the women’s side, spectators were delighted to see the British para-archer Danielle BROWN come out on top with a decisive win 6-2 over the Italian star Marcella TONIOLI. It is the first major individual title for Danielle BROWN. In this category, the best French archer Patricia LEGER reached the semifinals but had to settle for 4th place. She lost the bronze medal final to the experienced Swedish archer Petra ERICSSON, who made her come back on the international scene in Nimes after taking a long break to start a family in 2008. Indoor World Cup Ranking The 16 best archers of the Tournament of Nimes in each of the four (senior) international categories, as well as the 16 best from the Indoor World Cup stage 1 that took place in Singapore last December, have received points counting towards the Indoor World Cup Ranking. These archers will have the opportunity to qualify for the Indoor World Cup Final (which will take place during the Las Vegas Tournament) under the condition that they compete in the Las Vegas Tournament taking place on 10-12 February. The 16 best archers of each category will shoot the Final for glory and prize-money. Please visit www.arcclubdenimes.com for more information and the complete results. Source: FFTA Edited by World Archery Communication