IM and VAN NATTA last the distance

IM and VAN NATTA last the distance Antalya – 3 June 2009   The World Cup Stage 3 in Antalya (TUR) started today with the qualification rounds in the recurve men and compound women categories shooting a FITA Round. The 2008 World Cup winner IM Dong-Hyun (KOR) led the men after the long distances and the world record holder Jamie VAN NATTA (USA) was first among the women. They lasted the distance and finished the day as winners. Altogether an impressive 39 men shot more than 1300 points!   The long distances were shot this morning and the short distances in the afternoon.   Individual - Recurve Men Ranking 2nd at 90 meters and 1st at 70 meters, IM (photo) had a comfortable lead after the long distances with 664 points (respectively on the two distances). Rahul BANERJEE (IND) was 1st at 90m but only 15th at 70m. He ranked 2nd with 655 points just one ahead of a surprising Matthew GRAY (AUS).   A quartet followed on 650 points and what a quartet!: the amazing Hiroshi YAMAMOTO (JPN), who won Olympic medal in 1984 and 2004, Jayanta TALUKDAR (IND), the World Cup winner in Porec, Simon TERRY (GBR), double Olympic medallists in 1992 and Baljinima TSYREMPILOV (RUS), the 2007 World Cup Final winner!   The positions were almost set after the third distance. IM stayed in front with 341 points at 50 meters which brought his total to 1005. Another Korean, OH Jin-Hyek (KOR) surged back into the front line! He was 18th at 90m, 6th at 70m and had by far the best score at 50m with 348 points. He came back to 2nd place. Then BANERJEE and GRAY both shot 993 points followed by TSYREMPILOV, YAMAMOTO, TALUKDAR and TERRY.   In the last distance, TSYREMPILOV scored only 351 points and dropped to 9th place overall. That was the only change among the top archers. IM finished the day with 1362 points, ahead of OH, 1353. BANERJEE and GRAY were tied at 1348 but the Indian was 3rd because he had most 10s.   There was a three-way shoot-off for the final qualifying place. Stefanos TSERKEZIS (GRE) was victorious over Gilles DECKER (LUX) and Aleksandr MOZHAR (CAN).   Individual - Compound Women VAN NATTA (photo) was first in the two long distances, which are 70 and 60 meters for the women. She scored 349 and 353 points for a total of 702. Some familiar faces such as Albina LOGINOVA (RUS) with 693, Ivana BUDEN (CRO), 688, and Luzmary GUEDEZ (VEN), 685, followed. The Porec World Cup winner, Nicky HUNT (GBR), was 7th with 678.   BUDEN was the best at 50m with 350 points, two points better than VAN NATTA. However, the American retained the lead in the overall ranking with 1050 points and a superb 12-point lead over the Croatian. LOGINOVA was 3rd, GUEDEZ 4th and the world champion Eugenia SALVI (ITA) came back to 5th place!   At the end, VAN NATTA was the only one to break 1400 points today! She scored 1408. BUDEN and LOGINOVA were close to the mythical barrier with 1397 and 1396 respectively. At 4th place, GUEDEZ had 1385, ahead of HUNT on 1376. After this, the gaps between archers were not as wide. Fiona HYDE (AUS), SALVI, Jhano HANSDAH (IND), Camilla SOEMOD (DEN) and Patricia TCHEPIKOFF (FRA) followed in the ranking.   Team - Recurve Men   Last year in Antalya both Korea and India beat the team world record for a 70-meter round (Korea holding a small edge)! This time it was a great battle again between these two teams. After the long distances, Korea led with 1959 points and a 6-point advantage over India. Then, Russia and France were tied with 1918 points.   Korea made a big difference at 50m and increased their lead to 42 points over India and their pursuers with a total of 2980. The Koreans finished the day with 4053 points. India was 2nd with 4009 and France barely got 3rd place with 3975, two points ahead of Russia. The 16th and last qualifying place was taken by Germany with 3829 points. The Germans can thank Florian FLOTO and his 1322 points.   Team - Compound Women   After the long-distances, France had 2024 points and a 2-point lead over Venezuela. India followed with 2011, just one point ahead of Australia. However, France did not last the whole day. They regressed to 4th place in the final ranking on 4064 points. Australia moved to 3rd place with 4074 points thanks to the 1373 points of Fiona HYDE. India was 2nd with 4080 points and Venezuela held an impressive lead on top. BOSCH, FLORES and GUEDEZ had a combined score of 4112 points!   The Mixed Team rankings will be finalised tomorrow at the conclusion of the Recurve Women and the Compound Men qualifications.   Didier MIEVILLE FITA Communication