All five continents reach the individual quarterfinals

All five continents reach the individual quarterfinals Delhi – 5 October 2010   After its first ever gold medal during the Youth Olympic Games, Africa continues to impress and will have three representatives in the Compound Men's finals: two from South Africa and one from Namibia.   South Africa is continuing on impressive showing during recent World Cup stages, while the Namibian federation had to fight hard to get the Namibian Commonwealth Association to accept them to send their archers. They have proven today that this was the right decision. Oceania and Europe have representatives in all categories for the quarterfinals. The Americas and Asia are in three categories.   FITA is very pleased with the wide spread of quality archers in this event.   On Tuesday, the individual elimination rounds consisted of 1/32 (for men), 1/16 and 1/8. The matches for individual elimination rounds are drawn by a match-play chart, which is based on the ranking of the 70 metre round. Each elimination round consists of number of head-to-head matches from which the winners advance to the next round. In individual elimination matches, archers shoot up to three sets of 6 arrows at 70 metre on a 122 centimetre target face. Each set are worth two points (to win or to share if the set is tied). The archers have four minutes to shoot six arrows, simultaneously. In case of a bye, archers will be allowed to shoot in their own target, but no score will be recorded or displayed. In case of tie in set points at the end of the match, a single arrow shoot-off will be played and the athlete with the arrow closest to the centre will win!   Recurve Men In the 1/32 elimination round, the dual between the No. 32 seed Pascal OLIVIER (MRI) and the No. 33 seed Terence COWARD (JEY) held all its promises. It went to a third set and COWARD prevailed 4-2 (47-51, 52-48, 50-40). On his side, the 2008 Beijing Olympian Joseph WALTER MUAAUSA (SAM) had a slow start, while his opponent had a great one! The second set was closer but Konstantinos LOIZOU (CYP) prevailed 4-0 (57-41, 52-50).   In the 1/16 elimination round, Youth Olympian Mark NESBIT, competing for Northern Ireland here, was beaten by Shiek SJOJEB (BAN) 2-4 (53-54, 56-54, 53-54). The No. 5 seed Crispin DUENAS (CAN) lost a set against L. C. RAJASINGHE (SRI) but prevailed 4-2 (55-58, 56-50, 56-49). Hugh MACDONALD (CAN) had to give it away to Alan WILLS (ENG), due to sickness. With a high fewer, the Canadian made a point in shooting a couple of arrows, but could not continue the match. Mimis EL HELALI (CYP) tied two sets with the famous Silver Fox Simon TERRY (ENG), but the English athlete took the match 4-2 (54-54, 59-50, 53-53). Constantinos CHRISTODOULOU (CYP) and A. F. IBRAHIM PUTRA (MAS) went to a shoot-off and both shot a 9! CHRISTODOULOU was closest to the centre 4-3 (52-55, 51-51, 55-52, T9*-T9). Finally, there was a dual against brothers from Sri Lanka! The Youth Olympian E. H. MILON played against his older sibling Z. H. ZIA. MILON took an early advantage, but ZIA tied it at the end. In the shoot-off MILON won 8-6, complete score: 4-3 (56-46, 50-50, 54-55, T8-T6) photo.   In the 1/8 round, the talented Crispin DUENAS (CAN) was taken out by the experienced Matthew GRAY (AUS), 0-4 (53-56, 52-54). The No. 4 seed CHENG Chu Sian beat one of the Indian chances for a medal, Tarundeep RAI, 4-0 (58-53, 55-52). In an English dual, Larry GODFREY also prevailed 4-0 against WILLS (54-52, 53-51). The third English, TERRY, played against the young MILON, who was not born when the Silver Fox won two Olympic medals in 1992! TERRY took the advantage in the first set 57-52, but MILON reversed the score in the second set, 52-57. The third set was decisive for TERRY who prevailed 56-52. Finally, Jay LYON preserved some Canadian chances with a win over James LAING (SCO) 4-2, and crowd favourite Jayanta TALUKDAR beat CHRISTODOULOU 5-1. The Indian will take on TERRY in the quarterfinals for a great showdown on Sunday!     Recurve Women Notable matches in the 1/16 round of eliminations in Recurve Women this morning were the ones of Veronique MARRIER d’UNIENVILLE (MRI) vs Shahira ABDUL HALIM (MAS) and Vanessa LOH (SIN) vs Marie Pier BEAUDET (CAN). On the first one, the Mauritius Olympian was coming off a good performance in qualifications (ranked 12th with 608 points). However, she could not keep it up in the match and lost 0-4 (47-55, 47-49) against ABDUL HALIM. The second match featured the Youth Olympian from Singapore against the 2008 Olympian from Canada. Youth prevailed over experience on this one as LOH won 4-0 (52-50, 53-49).   In the 1/8 round of eliminations LOH continued to advance, taking out another experienced Olympian and No. 4 seed Deonne BRIDGER (AUS). LOH won 5-1 (50-47, 51-51, 52-45). LOH will play Anbarasi SUBRAMANIAM (MAS) in the quarterfinal on Sunday. Another upset was the one of Naomi FOLKARD (ENG) who lost against Kateri VRAKKING (CAN) 0-4 (51-52, 49-57). VRAKKING will play another English star in the quarterfinal, Alison WILLIAMSON. There was a close match between Alexandra FEENEY (AUS) photo and crowd favourite B. D. LAISHRAM (IND). The Australian prevailed in the third set 4-2 (51-48, 51-52, 53-50). She will play the No. 1 seed Deepika KUMARI (IND) in the next round. The last quarterfinal will feature the third Indian, Dola BANERJEE and Amy OLIVER (ENG).   Compound Men In the first two rounds, in only five occasions the lower ranked athlete managed to take off the higher seed. The best match was probably the one of No. 20, but past world champion, Clint FREEMAN (AUS) over the No. 13 Nico BENADE (RSA) 4-2 (58-58, 58-58, 58-55). The No. 17 Jignas CHITTIBOMMA (IND) also fought hard to prevail over the No. 16 Alistair WHITTINGHAM (SCO) 4-2 (57-56, 59-59, 58-58). Just one point in the first set turned out to be the difference!   In the 1/8 elimination round, Patrick COGHLAN (AUS) had a great game with Jacob DE WET (RSA). The South African was the closest to the centre in the shoot-off, despite both archers shooting 10s! DE WET won 4-3 (57-60, 58-57, 56-56, T10*-T10). In the English dual, Chris WHITE beat the silver medallist at last year world championship Liam GRIMWOOD 4-0 (58-57, 56-55). Owen KALMARU (WAL) beat the 2003 world champion FREEMAN 4-2 (56-56, 59-56, 58-58). Johannes GROBLER (NAM) beat the No. 3 seed and world bronze medallist last year Stephen CLIFTON (NZL) 4-2 (53-57, 56-55, 58-57). Shaun TEASDALE (NZL), Robert TIMMS (AUS), Duncan BUSBY (ENG) and the No. 1 seed Seppie CILLIERS (RSA) photo also advance to Saturday’s afternoon quarterfinals.   Compound Women The compound categories always bring number of upsets and today they took place on the women’s side. In the 1/16 round, Janette HOWELLS (WAL) defeated the No. 9 seed Camille DEMERS-BOUFFARD (CAN) in a shoot-off, 4-3 (56-56, 53-58, 55-57, T10-T8). Elizabeth MITCHELL (NZL) took out the No. 4 seed Nichola SIMPSON (ENG) 4-0 (55-54, 56-55). Jhano HANSDAH (IND) was beaten by Rebecca DARBY (AUS) 0-4 (56-55, 58-56), but Gagandeep KAUR (IND) beat the silver medallist at last year world championships Jorina COETZEE (RSA) 5-1 (55-55, 58-54, 55-54)!   In the second round, Janette HOWELLS moved on to the quarterfinals by beating the No. 8 Lucy O’SULLIVAN (JEY) 4-0 (57-56, 57-54). F. N. MAT SALLEH (MAS) defeated the recent 2nd at the 2010 World Cup Final in Edinburgh, Ashley WALLACE (CAN) 4-2 (57-54, 59-58, 59-58). In a close match, para-archer Danielle BROWN (ENG) beat the No. 3 seed Claudine JENNINGS (SCO) 4-2 (57-58, 57-55, 56-55). Finally, the No. 1 in the world and No. 2 seed here, Nicky HUNT (ENG), had to score a perfect 60  in the third set to defeat KAUR 4-2 (57-56, 56-59, 60-56). The compound women quarterfinals will be played Saturday morning.   Didier MIEVILLE World Archery Communication