On the way for medal matches

Photo © Dean ALBERGA    All individual semifinals were shot today, with the weather remaining perfect for shooting. In the team event, the recurve and compound men's teams shot through to the semifinals.   The day started with the Compound Men Open division. Fred STEVENS (GBR) and Kevin EVANS (CAN) set the tone for the day with a nail-biting match which went to a shoot-off, the Canadian finally running out the winner. Pavlo NAZAR (UKR) continued in superb form, beating John MIZE (USA).
 
In Recurve Men W2, top seeded Muhammad Salam SIDIK (MAS) started badly but recovered in time to send his opponent, Antonino LISOTTA (ITA), to the bronze match. In the other semifinal, Russell WOLFE (USA) was a serious threat to LEE Hong Gu (KOR) before finally conceding defeat by only two points. 
 
In the Recurve Men Standing event, both the No. 1 and 2 seeds were defeated and will face each other in the bronze final whilst Mustafa AK (TUR) and Fabrice MEUNIER (FRA) will compete against each other in the gold final.
 
The Compound Men W1 event was not as close as the earlier matches but there was tremendous amount of noise in the second semifinal as it was a clash between USA and Canada with the American Jeff FABRY ending up as the winner against Norbert MURPHY to meet Peter KINIK (SVK) in the gold final.   “I have never had so much fun during a match,” FABRY said after winning his semi-final. MURPHY, his opponent, however was still quite happy. He said: “I am just happy to have reached my first ever medal match and particularly as I beat John CAVANAGH (GBR) earlier who has always beaten me in the past.”  
In the Compound Women Open class, GBR ensured their chance of a one, two, three when Mel CLARKE beat Olga POLEGAEVA (RUS). In the second semifinal, Danielle BROWN gave Pippa BRITTON no opening and beat her by ten points.  
Paralympic medallist, Gizem GIRISMEN (TUR) beat the less experienced Saana-Maria SINISALO (FIN) in a very tense match in the Recurve Women W2 event. She will meet Marketa SIDKOVA (CZE) in the gold final which will give the home crowd someone to cheer for.
 
The final individual matches of the day were for the Recurve Women Standing class where Eliane SALDEN-OTTEN (NED) demolished her opponent LEE Hwa Sook (KOR) by twenty one points. However, Korea still has a chance of a gold medal as KIM Ran Sook beat the only Mongolian archer in Nymburk, Javsmaa BYAMBASUREN.   After a short break to re-set the field (speedy work by the field crew) the compound and recurve men's teams shot through to the semifinals. Tomorrow 21 August, we will see Korea and Russian Federation in both events, with Great Britain and Germany also contesting the compound event and Spain and Turkey the recurve.
 
Ann WEBB / Dean ALBERGA
FITA Communication  
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