England gets first two golds!!

England gets first two golds!! Delhi – 7 October 2010   The first archery final took place at Yamuna Sports Complex Thursday morning. England earned the gold medals in compound women and men’s team.   English aces thwart India in battle for Gold England has secured the Gold medal in the Men's Team Compound event after defeating India 231-229 at the Yamuna Sports Complex on Thursday.   India came into the final brimming with confidence after upsetting South Africa 226-224 in an up and down semifinal with Jignas CHITTIBOMMA (IND) leading the team with a lot of 10s.   However, they were unable to get past favourite England, which started the final with six consecutive 10s to create a strong lead as it marched to the Gold medal. The team of Christopher WHITE, Liam GRIMWOOD and Duncan BUSBY (ENG) has been dominant throughout the competition and managed to silence a buoyant Indian crowd with its consistent shooting.   South Africa recovered from its semifinal loss by beating Australia 234-232 to claim the Bronze medal. After losing their composure against India, the South Africans were back to their best, shooting the highest Compound score of the day. Gun archer Septimus CILLIERS (RSA) will now turn his focus to his quest for the Gold medal in the Individual Compound finals on Saturday.   HUNT (ENG) shows resolve to bury Canada England's female archers have claimed the first gold medal in the archery competition, prevailing over Canada 232-229 in the women's team compound event at the Yamuna Sports Complex on Thursday.   Trailing by one point at the end of the second end, the team of Nicky HUNT, Danielle BROWN and Nichola SIMPSON (ENG) turned it around to win by three, with HUNT nailing a pressure shot with the final arrow of the tie.   The match was a high-quality affair, with no archer scoring less than a nine in each of the four ends.   Neither team gave an inch in the final, with England's final score only one point off Russia's World Record of 233 set in 2008.   India had previously claimed their first medal in Commonwealth Games archery, defeating a determined Malaysia 223-219 to win the Bronze.   Carried by the consistency of Gagandeep KAUR (IND) and the support of the local crowd, the Indians led from the front and maintained the gap between the two sides throughout the match.   Here is below a recap of the matches. The format was four ends of six arrows for each team. Best total score wins. The teams has three archers who rotate after each arrow and teams actually alternate with each other after three arrows.   Compound Men Team   Semifinal: England vs Australia The No. 1 seed England started this semifinal with a 10! They continued with 9-10-9-10-10 for 58 points. Australia shot 9-10-9-10-10-9 for 57 points. The English team was composed of the regular Great Britain team, which is the No. 4 in the world ranking, while Australia is No. 5. The Australians had some troubles to find their rhythm in this match as they continued with 8-9-10-9-9-9, while England had 10-10-10-9-10-9 to increase their lead to 116-111. FREEMAN/TIMMS/COGHLAN tried to put some pressure on the third end with 9-10-9-10-9-10; however England also scored 57 points despite an 8 for GRIMWOOD—England 173-168. Australia started the last end with three more 9s, then finished 10-9-10, while GRIMWOOD/WHITE/BUSBY stayed solid with 10-9-9-9-9-9. England reached the gold final, 228-224!   Semifinal: India vs South Africa The No. 6 seed based on Monday’s qualifications and No. 18 in the world India was lift to the semifinal by its supporters yesterday, when they upset New Zealand. South Africa is the No. 2 seed in this tournament (2nd in qualifications) and the No. 8 in the world. They won the Antalya World Cup stage this year. They started the match with a solid 9-10-10-10-10-9, while India had 8-10-9-10-9-9 to concede a 4-point deficit, 55-59. The Indians came back strong with X10-X10-9-X10-10-10, while South Africa was not as superb with 10-8-10-9-9-9. India took the lead 114-113 and the fans went wild! South Africa then scored 9-9-10, but India had 10-10-10! South Africa continued with 9-9-10, while India finished the third end with 10, but then 8-8. The score was 170-169 in favour of India! BENADE then scored a 10, CILLIERS had a 9 and DE WET a 9. SRITHER shot a 9, CHITTIBOMMA a 9/10 (too close to call) and CHATTERJEE a 10. India had a 1 or 2 points lead. South Africa finished with 9-9-9. The Indians finished with 9-9-9. The judge called the second arrow of the end a 10, but that did not change anything. India upset the No. 2 seed South Africa to reach the final, 226-224!   Bronze Final: Australia vs South Africa South Africa quickly went back from this semifinal to shoot the bronze medal against Australia. Only one team will be happy at the end, but three players will have a second chance with individual matches on Saturday: CILLIERS and DE WET, who will play against each-other and TIMMS on the Australian side. The South Africans started with 10-10-9 and 10-9-10 for 58 points, while Australia shot 10-10-9 and 10-9-X10 for another 58 points. South Africa continued with X10-9-9-10-10-X10, while Australia shot X10-10-9-9-10-X10. In the third end, the Australians continued with 10-9-9-10-9-9, while the South Africans scored a perfect 10-10-10-10-X10-X10. They took a decisive lead 177-173! FREEMAN/TIMMS/COGHLAN finished with honours scoring X10-10-10-9-10-10, but BENADE/CILLIERS/DE WET did not let their medal go with 10-X10-9-10-8-10. Bronze for South Africa 234-232!   Gold Final: England vs India The Indian compound men’s team has been a great story until now, especially considering that none of their archers will shot in individual quarterfinals, while WHITE and BUSBY will have a second chance for gold on the English side. Together with GRIMWOOD, they directly showed what they are a capable of with X10-X10-X10-X10-10-X10!!!!!! India still scored a good 9-X10-9-10-10-9, but trailed 57-60. India continued with 10-10-10-9-9-9 (very close to the 10 line), while England kept going strong with 9-X10-X10-X10-10-10 to lead 119-114. In the third end, both teams scored 57 points and England kept a 5-point lead 176-171. SRITHER/CHITTIBOMMA/CHATTERJEE finished with a great 10-10-9-10-10-9 to earn silver! GRIMWOOD/WHITE/DUNCAN kept their nerves to score 9-9-9-10-9-9 to win the second gold medal in archery for England today, 231-229!   Compound Women Team   Semifinal: Canada vs India Canada and India started the show this morning with their compound women’s seminal. Both team started well with a 57. Canada scored another 57 in the second end, while India could not keep it up with a 53. The Canadians led 114-110. The No. 1 seed seemed to be in total control of the match with a series of 9-9-9-10-10 but their last arrow of the third end was a 6. Still it was enough to increase their lead as India scored a low end of 51 points. Score was at 167-161. CHANU/HANSDAH/KAUR finished with 9-9-9-9-10-10. That was not enough to catch BOUFFARD-DEMERS/JONES/WALLACE who scored 9-9-9-10-10-10. Canada won 224-217 and reached the gold final.   Semifinal: Malaysia vs England Mighty England entered the field for the second semifinal with the Paralympic Champion Danielle BROWN, the individual world ranking No. 1 Nicky HUNT and the women with the most records at masters level, Nichola SIMPSON. They started the match with 8-9-10-9-10-10. However Malaysia did not come as an easy opponent as they scored X10-X10-10-8-10-10 to take the lead 58-56. England continued with 10-9-9-X10-10-X10, while Malaysia dropped a few points with 9-8-9-9-10-9. The English were now in the lead 113-112. Good scores, partly explained by the total absence of wind today in the venue. As the trailing team, Malaysia had now to shoot first. Led by F. N. MAT SALLEH, who will shoot in the individual quarterfinal this week-end against HUNT, they collected 9-9-9-9-9-9, while England had 10-10-X10-9-9-X10 to increase their lead 172-166. MAT SALLEH/ISHAK/CHAM concluded with an end of 55, but BROWN/HUNT/SIMPSON also scored 55 to win 227-221. They ensured themselves a medal and a meet in the final with Canada.   Bronze Final: India vs Malaysia As the higher ranked team after the qualifications, India could choose who shoot first in this match. India is No. 9 in the world ranking for this category, while Malaysia is No. 20. The Indians decided to shoot first and started very well with X10-10-10-7-9-10, while the Malaysians scored 9-7-9-8-9-10 and trailed 52-56. Malaysia raised their level in the second end with 56 points, but India stayed on track with another 56 points. Malaysia lost some more ground in the third end with 54 points, while India had 55. CHANU/HANSDAH/KAUR led 167-162 and finished with 56 to win the game 223-219 and bring the first of many expected medals in archery for India!   Gold Final: Canada vs England Three archers in this team final still have the chance to reach the individual final on Saturday: the No. 1 seed Doris JONES (CAN), the No. 2 seed Nicky HUNT (ENG) and the No. 14 Danielle BROWN (ENG). Canada has also in the line-up Ashley WALLACE, recent 2nd at the World Cup Final in Edinburgh last month, and Camille BOUFFARD-DEMERS, who won bronze at the Youth World Championships Antalya 2008. JONES is in fact the junior world champion from Merida 2006, where she beat BROWN in the semifinal. Canada’s team average age is only 22 years old. Both teams started well and the Canadians lead 58-57 after six arrows. Then both teams scored 58. Canada led 116-115 at the half (finishing the end with a bull’s eye); weather conditions were still perfect. Both teams did not leave the yellow again in the third end, but England was a bit better with a 58, while Canada had 56. The English took the lead 173-172. Shooting in the order of JONES/BOUFFARD-DEMERS/WALLACE, Canada then shot 9-10-10. England shot with BROWN/SIMPSON/HUNT in order and scored three 10s to increase their lead. JONES finished with a 10, BOUFFARD-DEMERS a 9 and WALLACE with another 9. Not enough at this level to truly put pressure on England. BROWN touched the bull’s-eye, SIMPSON had 9 and HUNT concluded with an X10 to take gold, 232-229! Twenty eight years after Neroli FAIRHALL (NZL), another para-archer, BROWN, won gold at the Commonwealth Games!

  Didier MIEVILLE / Commonwealth Games GNS World Archery Communication