Korea and some surprises!

Korea and some surprises! Antalya – 5 June 2009   The compound teams took to the field last in the morning and the recurve teams started the afternoon session. Both Korean teams qualified for tomorrow’s final in recurve. Two teams surprisingly qualified for the compound women’s final, New Zealand and Greece!   A strong wind came up in the late morning, intensified during the lunch break and was still a factor during the recurve matches, especially for the women.   Recurve Men The highest score of the 1/8 elimination round was by France (photo) with 223 points. The French shot a perfect second end of 60 points and clinched the match 223-205 over Ukraine! There were two very tight matches in this round. China had an early lead over Canada 54-53. Then DUENAS-LYON and MAC DONALD took a slender lead, 106-104. They increased the gap to 157-154 and held a 1-point victory 207-206. Japan also took an early lead over Mexico, 53-51. The match was tied at 103-103, before the Japanese put their noses in front again 158-157 and 213-211. The No. 11 seed Malaysia caused another upset over the No. 6 seed Russia, 212-209.   The silver medallists in the Beijing, Italy, had the better start against the Olympic Champions Korea, 54-55. However, the teams have changed since then and Korea had less difficulty to win this time. The Koreans took the lead at 106-104, 163-153 and clinched the match 220-211. Australia had a good lead over Canada after the first end 56-49. They still led 106-102, 160-157, but then Canada tied it at 210-210! Australia finally prevailed in the shoot-off 10-10-8 versus 8-9-9. France could not continue their form during the second match, shooting a few 7s and that proved costly against Malaysia. The match went 54-54, 109-105, 164-157 and 213-210 in favour of Malaysia. In the fourth quarterfinal, India beat Japan 215-203.   The Koreans did not have their best game in the semifinal. They trailed Australia 56-57, before producing an effort to lead 112-110 and 168-163. However, they did not finish the match well with 8-9-8-8-9-9, barely enough to contain Australia, 219-216. Malaysia almost continued the Cinderella story for one more match against India. They led 53-52 and then were tied 108-108. However, India finally prevailed 166-162 and 219-215. The two favourites, Korean and India, will meet in the final.   Recurve Women The wind started to blow stronger this afternoon and it gave the archers some problems. Korea (photo) still had the higher score and defeated Great Britain 215-196. France had somewhat a lucky win after their first archer shot a 6 and a 4 to start the second end. Nevertheless the French pulled through to a 199-195 victory over Australia. The No. 3 seed China had a massive lead over Malaysia after the first (52-43). However Malaysia came back 94-97, took the lead at 144-142 and upset China 196-192! Lastly, Ukraine scored 202 points, which would have been enough to win most of the first round matches, but India scored 204 to secure victory.   The semifinals will definitely have an eastern look. Korea defeated Germany, 53-51, 105-101, 163-150, 220-206. The match between France and Japan was closer, at least at the beginning: 50-48, 103-94, 159-147 and 206-200 for Japan. Russia and Malaysia was even tighter before Malaysia had some serious troubles in the last end: 49-48, 96-97, 146-144 and 201-189 to Russia. The last quarterfinal was the tightest. India had an early lead 53-51, then Italy reversed the situation, 104-101 and then the teams were tied at 153-153. They finished the match at 206-206. Finally India won the shoot-off 28-26!   Korea did not have a good start in the semifinal with 50 points. Japan had 52. However, the Koreans quickly reversed the situation and won 106-104, 161-156 and 213-208. Russia took an early lead over India and did not let this go: 55-51, 110-107, 163-159 and 216-206. Russia will shoot against Korea in the final!   Compound Men No surprise in the first round as all the higher seeds except the No. 8 seed won their matches! In the northern duel, the No. 9 seed Norway beat Denmark 56-54, 111-108, 166-165 and ended on a score of 223-221! The highest score was achieved by Sweden who prevailed 231-223 over Russia. Two teams had some difficulties to go through. Canada trailed India after the second end, 111-109. However, the Canadians quickly reversed the situation to lead 167-159 after 18 arrows and clinched the match 223-215. Netherlands was tied with Indonesia after two ends, 108-108. The Dutch then took the advantage 167-163 and won it 220-217.   In the quarterfinals, the scores were much tighter! The No. 1 seeds Italy went back and forth with Norway: 57-56, 111-112, 168-168 and finally a crushing 1-point victory for Italy, 224-223. Sweden pulled out a come-back victory against Venezuela. The Swedes led 56-57 and 100-111 before they tied the match at 167-167. They finally won it 226-223! Netherlands also came back from behind although they led at the beginning: 57-56, 112-110, 166-167 and finally 224-223. Despite a perfect 60 points in the last end, the No. 2 seed France could not come back. The gap was too big after 18 arrows: 166-169. France was finally defeated by Canada 226-227.   After their victory for gold in Porec against the Italians, the Swedish are returning to a final in Antalya. They did not shake against the same Italians. Sweden led 57-56, 115-111, 169-167 and clinched the match 224-221. The second semifinal was more exciting. The teams were tied at 113-113 and 169-169 (the teams traded ends of 57 and 56 points with all 10s and 9s except for one 8 with the Dutch). However, another 8 for Canada in the last end ended their hopes. The Dutch scored a solid 10-10-9-10-9-9 to clinch the match 226-224! It will be Sweden – Netherlands in the final on Saturday afternoon as of 2pm local time!   Compound Women Only three 1/8 eliminations matches took place. The No. 9 seed New Zealand blew away the No. 8 seeds Germany, 218-200. The No. 11 seeds Greece (photo) took out No. 6 Indonesia 159-156, 209-206. Finally the No. 7 seeds Turkey barely stayed alive against the Russian team of KAZANTSEVA-LOGINOVA-MOZHAYKINA. The match was tied at 209-209 but the home team won the shoot-off 29-28!   In the quarterfinals, New Zealand defeated the No. 1 seed Venezuela! The match was close and New Zealand was trailing 107-109 but they finally won 213-212! The No. 5 seeds Italy built a good lead against the No. 4 seeds France after three ends, 162-157, but they only protected a 1-point victory 216-215. Greece and India had a close match during the first three ends: 54-53, 109-110 and 163-163. Then Greece pulled ahead and won 217-213. In the last quarterfinal, Australia beat the hosts, Turkey, 214-205.   The two remaining favourites went down in the semifinals! Italy led New Zealand 56-51 but the Kiwis had an impressive second end with 59 points! They tied the match 102-102. Then they took the advantage 154-149 and did not let anything go in the last end to give themselves a finals appearance! They won 207-202. In the other semifinal, Australia seemed in good shape, leading 56-53, 109-104 and 159-157. However, Greece tied it at 210-210 and the fans could enjoy a shoot-off! Greece did not have a good start with a 7 but they followed through with a 9 and 10. Australia began with a 10 but then had a 7 and 9. The first shoot-off was tied at 26-26. In the second shoot-off Greece had an excellent 10-9-10. Australia could not do better than 9-9-8. Greece won 29-26 and will meet New Zealand in the final!   Didier MIEVILLE FITA Communication
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