A great archery show on the beaches of Antalya!

A great archery show on the beaches of Antalya! Antalya – 7 June 2009   Stage 3 of the Archery World Cup took place in beautiful Antalya under the sun! Finals were shot this afternoon on Baki’s beach full of supporters. Simon TERRY (GBR), KWAK Ye-Ji (KOR), Dominique GENET (FRA) and Luzmary GUEDEZ (VEN) emerged as the big winners!   Recurve Men   Gold Medal – Thomas AUBERT (FRA) vs Simon TERRY (GBR) Thomas AUBERT reached a gold medal match for the first time. He had already earned a bronze in Varese in 2007 and will be shooting against Simon TERRY who was fourth at the last Archery World Championships in Leipzig and double medallist at the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games! TERRY was seeded No. 7 in this event.   This was another clash between experience and youth! The wind was not as strong as yesterday’s team finals but some strong gusts still blew. It was a hot and sunny day at the beach. Archers shot alternately and had 30 seconds per arrow. After each three arrows scores are confirmed by the judges.   TERRY had a brilliant start with 10-10-10! The young AUBERT did not start so well with 7-9-X10.   In the second end, TERRY had another 10 but was then surprised by the wind with a 6! He finished the end with a 9. AUBERT had another 7 (with two 9s) and trailed 51-55.   AUBERT improved a bit with 8-10-10 and cut his deficit to two points at 79-81 (TERRY had 7-9-10).   AUBERT tried his best with 8-10-9 but Simon “the silver fox” TERRY locked up the victory with X10-X10-9. He is having a superb season so far and this 110-106 win may take him to the World Cup Final in Copenhagen (DEN) on the 26 September!   Today we had the top archer Crispin DUENAS (CAN) joining us for the commentary. He gave us his opinions on the matches, “The Crispin Corner”: Today the wind was not as strong as yesterday, rather more constant with some gusts. AUBERT was not consistent in this match. TERRY was strong, confident, even if he accidentally shot a 6 and 7. His experience was probably a huge advantage in this final.   Bronze Medal – Amedeo TONELLI (ITA) vs Jayanta TALUKDAR (IND) Before the match, the best bronze medal chance was for TALUKDAR. He recently won the World Cup in Porec (CRO). TONELLI was a new comer at this level and would have to prove his ambition to win this match.   TALUKDAR is usually a fast shooter but he had a long release on his second arrow that cost him a 7. TONELLI led 27-26 after the first end.   Another long hold while the wind was blowing for TALUKDAR and this cost him an 8. TONELLI immediately seized the opportunity to score a 10. TALUKDAR struggled with another 9 and 8, while TONELLI had another 10 and an 8. He led 55-52.   In the third end, TALUKDAR improved a bit with three 9s, while nerves got to TONELLI who scored 9-7-6. He was now trailing by two points, 77-79!   TONELLI totally lost it with three more 8s, while TALUKDAR struggled to get three 9s (what a hold on his last arrow!), but that was enough to earn him the bronze, 106-101. Moreover that put him in a great position to make his return to a World Cup Final. He was in Merida (MEX) in 2006 and he may as well be in Copenhagen in 2009!   Crispin’s Corner: Nerves must have gotten to TONELLI because actually his overall form was not bad. TALUKDAR had some much longer holds than usual but he showed he can pull out a victory anytime.   Recurve women   Gold Medal – KWAK Ye Ji (KOR) vs YUN Ok Hee (KOR) A 100% Korean final! The 12-arrow match in which world record holder YUN will face KWAK, the reserve archer for the Korean team during the last Olympic Games in Beijing. The most experienced archer of this match was YUN, but her teammate was No. 1 seed in Antalya and might create an awesome surprise for her first archery World Cup gold medal match.   Both archers did not have a good start! KWAK scored 24 and YUN shot only one point better with 25.   YUN continued with her troubles and even scored a 6 to reach only 49 points at the half. KWAK found her rhythm and scored a nice 10-10-9 to earn a 4-point lead, 53-49.   The winner of the Antalya World Cup stage last year (when she broke the world record for a match with 119 points) was not going to repeat her feat this time. She kept shooting on the lower part of the target with 8-9-8. On the opposite KWAK was solid with a 9-X10-8 and increased her lead to six points, 80-74!   During her world record last year, YUN had only one arrow out of the 10. Today she only had one 10. Her young teammate KWAK celebrated her first World Cup victory with a score of 107-101!   Crispin’s corner: Although YUN’s front arm was fairly stable, she had a big variance with her clicker time. It seemed she was very uncomfortable with her release and might have a slight shoulder injury. The more time she took, the more mistakes she made. On the other hand, KWAK managed to keep steady form during the whole match.   Bronze Medal – OUYANG Ruyu (CHN) vs JOO Hyun-Jung (KOR) Asian archers are again in the spotlight in Baki Beach! There were three Korean woman during these finals. JOO is Team Olympic champion in the Beijing Games. She faced OUYANG from China, outsider of this match.   Both archers started a little on the left but still achieved high scores with both shooting 28 points.   The archers must keep their usual clicker speed and their follow through despite the wind and when they did so, they shot X10s or 10s. However, OUYANG held too long on one occasion and scored 7 in the second end. JOO took the lead 55-56.   The Chinese scored a couple of 8s in the third end while the Korean stayed solid with three high 9s and took the lead 83-80.   OUYANG finished well with 10-9-10. However JOO kept shooting solid shots. Although they were not perfect, she scored three other 9s and managed to hold a 1-point victory, 110-109!   Crispin’s corner: JOO is a fast shooter and that’s an advantage with the wind. OUYANG was sometimes a full draw for more than five seconds and that gave a chance for the wind to push her around. JOO did not miss the gold and deserved her victory.   Compound Men   Gold Medal – Braden Gellenthien (USA) vs Dominique GENET (FRA) GELLENTHIEN had great form during this competition. Ranking first at the end of the qualification round, he succeeded to shoot 119 points two times in a row this morning to qualify for the final. Dominique GENET did not shoot as well as him, but the battle looked tight between the two archers!   A wind gust blew when GENET was at full draw for his third arrow and that cost him an 8. GELLENTHIEN continued on his usual form of the week and scored 10-9-X10 to take a 2-point lead. However, the American lost it a bit with an 8 and a 9 before ending with a 10 in the second end. The Frenchman was close to perfect with 9-10-10 with a great group and tied the match at 56-56!   GENET continued in great fashion with a X10-X10-10 despite another wind gust during his last shot. After another X10, GELLENTHIEN struggled with a low 9 and high 9. He was trailing 84-86.   In the last end, the American shot a 10, an outside liner which was a 9 and another 10. However GENET did not let the opportunity to clinch his first victory on the World Cup after coming close many times go! He scored another 10-X10-X10 and won it 116-113! GELLENTHIEN will console himself with his certain qualification for the World Cup Final in Copenhagen! Crispin’s corner: GELLENTHIEN looked a bit more anxious during the match although he gave it all at the end. My hat off to GENET who was close to perfection. He was really calm and his group was great. He was bothered by the wind during his only 8.   Bronze Medal – Pat COGHLAN (AUS) vs Sebastian BRASSEUR (FRA) Sebastien BRASSEUR, who had already won a gold medal in 2007 in Antalya, was defeated during the semifinal by his teammate GENET. BRASSEUR was one of the four archers to participate at the grand final in Dubai two years ago. His opponent COGHLAN also took part in the Archery World Cup Final last year in Lausanne. He ranked 3rd. Both of them had equal chances to reach this bronze medal today.   BRASSEUR started with a really good group, just a bit on the right side and scored three 9s. COGHLAN was more all over but still managed 9-10-9 to score 28 points and take the lead.   BRASSEUR may have counter aimed a bit too much and dropped two 9s at 7 o’clock before he scored an X10 in the second end. COGHLAN was strong with 10-10-9 and took a 2-point lead 57-55.   BRASSEUR had another 9 before getting two 10s. However COGHLAN turned on the heat on the beach of Antalya with X10-X10-X10. He led 87-84.   There were some gusts of wind in the last end but the archers were on track. BRASSEUR scored X10-10-10 with a great group. COGHLAN controlled the match with X10-9-9 and held a 1-point lead to clinch the bronze medal, 115-114.   Crispin’s corner: BRASSEUR may have been caught by the wind with his three 9s at 7 o’clock. Although he had a great finish with five 10s it was too little too late. COGHLAN was a bit more right and left of the target but he was very solid for most of the match.   Compound Women   Gold Medal – Luzmary GUEDEZ (VEN) vs Olga BOSCH (VEN) This was a world premiere in the history of this competition! Two archers from Venezuela went for gold in Antalya. BOSCH, who ranked 3rd at the first stage in Santo Domingo this year, shot against GUEDEZ, the winner of the Stage 4 last year in Boe, France.   BOSCH started with arrows low in the target, while GUEDEZ was a bit all over the place. They both scored 25 points in the first end.   In the second end, GUEDEZ calmed down and had better a group, a bit low. She scored 10-9-9. It seemed BOSCH moved her sight and shot a 9 high on the target. Then she adapted again and launched two X10s! BOSCH led 54-53.   GUEDEZ kept shooting a bit too low in the third end but made 9-9-10. BOSCH now had the perfect height but suffered a bit from the wind as she scored two 9s on the right and one 9 on the left. Scores were tied at 81-81!   In the last end, GUEDEZ held on with 9-10-8 to get to 108 points. BOSCH had a strange follow-through on her 10th arrow and scored a 7. She finished with two 9s but that was not enough to come back. In either event it’s gold and silver for Venezuela! GUEDEZ won 108-106!   Crispin’s corner: Although GUEDEZ had only two arrows above the middle line of the target, she still won the match. BOSCH had the best start but she could not hold it until the end with five 9s and one 7 in the second half. Her group opened up. GUEDEZ was more consistent to win the match.   Bronze Medal – Camilla SOEMOD (DEN) vs Ivana BUDEN (CRO) Leading the World Cup ranking, BUDEN was the favourite in this match. She won a silver medal in Porec one month ago, at home and another medal here in Antalya would bring her to a very good position for the grand final in Copenhagen. Ranking 14thSOEMOD will have to count on her vast experience in trying to defeat one of the most consistent archers this year!   SOEMOED started well with X10-9-10 and took a 3-point lead over BUDEN, who had only 8-9-9, 29-26. The Croatian came back with a perfect 30 that allowed her to close the gap to one point at 56-57 and then 83-84. However, SOEMOD did not let go in the last end. Her three 9s were enough to clinch bronze with the score of 111-109.   Crispin’s corner: The wind was constant but not strong. In the third end, it looked like both archers were surprised by their shots. SOEMOD had the best start and the best finish and that gave her a logical win.   What a day on the beach!!   Crispin DUENAS Jean-Denis GITTON Didier MIEVILLE FITA Communication
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