Athletes from four countries in recurve gold finals tomorrow

Both men and women’s recurve athletes in the standing and W1/W2 categories shot individual matches on Friday afternoon. At stake, places in the bronze and gold finals as well as three Paralympic quotas per category (available to these ahtletes who have not won a quota in the team).   Recurve Men Standing The men had already shot previous rounds during the week and started their competition today with quarterfinals.   The No. 7 seed KIM Suk Ho (KOR) faced the No. 2 seed Mikhail OYUN (RUS). The first set was easily won by OYUN 27-23 but the Korean soon recovered and took the lead 4-2 after the third set. With a 26 against KIM’s 25 OYUN tied the match 4-4, but in the end the Korean clinched the match 6-4 (23-27, 26-25, 26-24, 25-26, 25-24).   The No. 1, 3 and 4 seeds advanced to the semifinals easily. DONG Zhi beat Kenny ALLEN 7-3 (29-25, 27-30, 28-28, 27-24, 28-27), Oleg SHESTAKOV beat Zafer KORKMAZ 6-0 (28-24, 26-21, 26-23) and Timur TUCHINOV (RUS) defeated Frabrice MEUNIER (FRA) 6-2 (24-23, 28-24, 23-25, 29-24).   DONG and KIM earned easy victories as well in the semifinals. DONG beat SHESTAKOV 6-2 (26-25, 27-29, 28-27, 29-25) and KIM beat TUCHINOV 6-2 (26-26, 29-28, 28-28, 28-26).   KORKMAZ, MEUNIER and KIM won the Paralympic quotas!   Recurve Men W1/W2 In quarterfinals, the No. 8 seed Rohan SHAHABIPOUR (IRI) took out the No. 1 seed JUNG Young Joo (KOR) 6-0 (25-23, 27-24, 30-23)! The other Korean, seeded No. 6, LEE Myeong-Gu however defeated the Italian favourite Oscar DE PELLEGRIN, seeded No. 3, 7-3 (22-22. 28-25, 23-25, 23-27, 25-29). The No. 7 Sidik MUHAMMAD SALAM (MAS) defeated TSENG Lung Hui (TPE) 7-3 (27-24, 28-23, 26-26, 27-28, 30-22). Only one favorite prevailed, the Iranian Ebrahim RANJBARKIVAJ.   Both semifinals were close. In the Iranian dual, RANJBARKIVAJ beat SHAHABIPOUR 6-4 (27-25, 27-26, 24-27, 27-28, 27-25). LEE also prevailed over MUHAMMAD 6-4 (28-28, 26-25, 25-25, 26-25, 29-26).   Italy got consolation as DE PELLEGRIN earned an Olympic quota together with MUHAMMAD and TSENG.   Recurve Women W1/W2 During the 1/16 elimination round the hardest fought match was the one between the Italian Mariangela PERNA and the Czech SIDKOVA Markéta, silver medallist at the 2009 World Archery Para Championship in Nymburk (CZE). The first two sets were easily won by PERNA 4-0 (25-18 and 22-21) but in the third and the fourth set the Czech archer overturned the results to tie the match at 4-4 (24-29 and 25-20). Thanks to her fans’ support PERNA started the last set with more confidence than the previous sets, and with a 8-7-9 managed to beat SIDKOVA’s 7-9-7. The match ended with the Italian’s victory 6-4 over her Czech opponent.   Another tight match was the one between Zinyat VALIYEVA (AZE) and Irina ROSSIYSKAYA (RUS). The Azerbaijani immediately took the lead and kept it until the third set. ROSSIYSKAYA then started to recover and the fourth set finished with a tie (4-4). With one set to go both archers had the opportunity to win the match but stress was hard to bear. Both archers shot low value arrows and VALIYEVA won the match 6-4 shooting three points more than her opponent (22-19). Finally, Irina VOLYNETS (UKR), seeded No. 24, easily clinched the match against the higher seed (No. 9) YUAN Lulu (CHN) 6-0.   In the second round VOLYNETS met another Chinese archer, LI Jinzhi (CHN), and this time she had to fight more to win her 1/8 match. LI started taking the lead 2-0 and then 4-0. With the third set VOLYNETS managed to recover 2-4 (21-24). In the fourth set both archers scored a 24, leaving the 2-set-point gap between the two athletes unchanged (3-5). However, VOLYNETS scored more points in the fifth set, tying the match at: 5-5. In the shoot-off LI shot a 6, high on the target. VOLYNETS shot a “high” arrow too, but hers was an 8 which gave her the victory.    The winner of the 2010 Arizona Cup Kate MURRAY (GBR) shot against Saana-Maria SINISALO (FIN), fourth place at the World Archery Para Championship in Nymburk 2009. The match started with a tie (1-1 with 26 points each after the first set and 2-2 with 25 points each after the second set). Then the Finnish shot a low 4 and the third set went to MURRAY (4-2). However bad luck then made her score a low 4 too, so the match was tied again 4-4 after the fourth set. The victory was finally awarded in the fifth set to the Finnish 6-4 (26-26, 25-25, 22-28, 24-20, 23-19).    The quarterfinals had both easy and hard-fought matches. Two archers had an easy run going through this round: the No. 3 seed XIAO Yanhong (CHN) won her match against the No. 6 seed Gizem GIRISMEN (TUR) 6-0 and Ozlem Hacer KALAY (TUR) beat KO Hee Sook KO 6-0.   The match between the bronze medallist of the 2010 Asian Para Games Zahra NEMATI (IRI) and Irina VOLYNETS (UKR) was close. The Ukrainian immediately took the lead 2-0 but then shot a bad arrow in the second set. NEMATI managed to close the gap between them (2-2). The Iranian also won the third set, but then the situation overturned again when VOLYNETS won the fourth set, tying the match 4-4. The Iranian finished the match shooting three 7s, while the Ukrainian had some trouble with her second arrow and shot 9-1-9. NEMATI won the match 6-4.   The first of the two semifinal matches saw Zahra NEMATI against Hatice BAYAR (TUR). The No. 1 seed NEMATI easily managed to overcome the Turkish for 6-0 (24-23, 25-20, 24-22). In the second match of the round XIAO Yanhong (CHN) faced another Turkish athlete, Ozlem Hacer KALAY, in a close match. The Chinese started taking the lead 4-0 (26-24, 26-24 pts). Both archers scored 26 points in the third set (5-1) and a set point that gave KALAY the hope she needed to fight. The Turkish won the following two sets to tie the match 5-5. In the tie-break KALAY shot an 8 but XIAO won the shoot-off with a 9.   VOLYNETS (UKR) and SINISALO (FIN) earned a Paralympic quota. A play-off will be played tomorrow between the losers of the 1/8 eliminations to define the last individual paralympic quota.   Recurve Women Standing The No. 24 seed Patricia LAYOLLE (BRA) faced the No. 9 seed Milena OLSZEWSKA (POL) in the 1/16 elimination round. Against all odds LAYOLLE started taking the lead 2-0 and kept it also after the second set 4-0. Both archers shot a 25 in the third set, gaining one point each (5-1). During the fourth set LAYOLLE shot a miss and that gave OLSZEWSKA the opportunity to gain 2 more set points (5-3). She also won the fifth set to force a shoot-off (5-5). In the tie-break both archers shot an 8 but LAYOLLE’s was closer to the centre and she won the match.   Another 1/16 match gave victory to the lowest seeded archer: the No. 25 Oyun-Erdene BUYANJARGAL (MGL) faced the No. 8 Katharina SCHETT (GER) and won 6-0.   During the 1/8 elimination round the reigning European champion Kay LUCAS (GBR) was up against Irina BATOROVA (RUS). Their match started with two ties and BATOROVA had the opportunity to gain 2 set points when LUCAS shot a 2 during the third set. The British won the fourth set, re-establishing the tie (4-4). However she scored only 23 with her final three arrows and that was not enough against BATOROVA’s 27. The Russian won the match 6-4.   Another close match was the one between Oyun-Erdene BUYANJARGAL and Patricia LAYOLLE. The two archers chased each other’s during the whole match (0-2, 2-2, 3-3, 5-3, 5-5) and only the shoot-off could decide the winner. Both arrows were really closed to the 8 line, but the judge’s decision gave the victory to the archer from Mongolia. The big upset of the round was for the No. 5 Razieh SHIR MOHAMMADI (IRI). The winner of the 2010 Asian Para Games was overtaken by YAN Huilian (CHN), seeded No. 12 for 6-2.   The two Chinese archers had an easy victory in their quarterfinals matches. GAO Fangxia beat Oyun-Erdene BUYANJARGAL 7-1 and YAN Huilian won over Kimiko KONISHI (JPN) 7-1. The Russian Irina BATOROVA faced Anna TZIKA (GRE) and closed the match 6-2 (20-18, 23-27, 27-22, 26-19). The last match of the quarterfinals was the closest. The bronze medallist of the 2010 European Championships of Vichy Magali COMTE (SUI) faced the silver medallist of the 2010 Asian Para Games KIM Ran Sook (KOR). The Swiss won the first set 2-0 (25-24). The second set was a tie with the two archers shooting 24 each and the lead remained to COMTE (3-1). The Korean then scored the best result of the third set, gaining 2 set points (3-3). The Swiss took the lead again 5-3 with the fourth set, and then won the match 6-4.   In the first of the two semifinal matches GAO Fangxia faced her teammate YAN Huilian. YAN immediately took the lead (24-22) but GAO soon recovered and tied the match 2-2. The third set did not solve the tie as both archers scored 25 points each. GAO then won both the fourth and the fifth set, clinching the match 7-3. In the second of the two semifinals the Russian NBATOROVA had an easy victory against Magali COMTE for 6-0 (26-19, 24-20, 27-26).   TZIKA, BATOROVA and COMTE won a paralympic quota!   Bronze and gold medal finals of each category will be played tomorrow!   Dajana PICCOLO World Archery Communication