Today was the individual finals of the Meteksan Antalya World Cup, second out of four stages leading to the Great Final in Mexico on October 22. The eight extraordinary matches of the day were being

Brazil wins a World Cup Event !!!

Today was the individual finals of the Meteksan Antalya World Cup, second out of four stages leading to the Great Final in Mexico on October 22. The eight extraordinary matches of the day were being broadcasted live on the Turkish channel TRT. The four new titles were spread among four different countries: Korea, China, Brazil and Russia.

Antalya - June 10, 2006.

 

Recurve Men

Park Kyung Mo (KOR) seed 1 after the qualifications has been able to handle all opposition to win his first Archery World Cup event. In the gold final against Asian neighbour Yamamoto (JPN), the Korean archer was extremely consistent shooting only 9s and 10s to score 114 points out of a possible 120 total. After giving the greatest impression during the eliminations, the 1984 and 2004 Olympic medalist Yamamoto seemed to be a little below his usual level scoring two 8s in the match for a final score of 108.

 

In the match for bronze, it is Bulgarian Yavor Hristov who was able to come from behind after a great start by Italian star Michele Frangilli (ITA) who, after scoring a perfect 30 with his first three arrows, could not handle such a high level and finished the match on a 111 score, while his opponent succeeded in shooting 113 to get a World Cup medal.

Recurve Women

Like their male counterpart Park, the two best seed ladies, Chinese Jialing Qian (1) and Korean Kim Yu Mi (2) finally kept their respective rank after the gold final. Although shooting three perfect last arrows (10-10-10), Kim had lost all her illusions in the second end in which she scored “only” 25 points (out of a possible 30). Qian finally defeated her opponent by only one small point on the score of 110-109.

Meteksan Sistem increases prize money by 5 times! 1st rank:  5'000 $ 2nd rank: 2'500 $ 3rd rank: 1'000 $

In a very tense and tight 100% Korean match, it is the youngest archer on the field, 16-year old Lee Tuk Young, who offered herself a World Cup bronze medal after a silver one gained at the World Championships in Madrid last year. Fighting against her teammate Yun Ok Hee, she was the best to keep her nerves in the shoot-off after the two archers were tied at the end of the regular 12 arrows (112-112). Tied again after the first shoot-off (9-9), Lee shot a perfect 10 while Yun shot a 9. Although very close to the 10 line, Yun’s last arrow was finally confirmed as a 9, which gave victory to her compatriot.

 

Compound Men

The gold medal match in the compound men division was even closer than the recurve women bronze medal one! Featuring Peter Elzinga from the Netherlands against Roberval Dos Santos from Brazil, measurement of the third arrow shoot-off was needed to decide the winner. After a tie at 117-117, both Elzinga and Dos Santos scored perfect 10 and 10 before a very last 9. As the rules states, it would be the one closest to the center to win. After unstainable seconds, the judge confirmed the Brazilian competitor’s arrow was better for only a few millimeters!

 

In the bronze match of this very exciting division, Jorge Jimenez from El Salvador was facing Patrizio Hofer of Switzerland. A 2-point difference was enough to give the Swiss another bronze medal after the one he won at the 2003 World Indoors. The final score for this match was 114-112.

 

Roberval Dos Santos (BRA) - Compound Men Winner

 

Compound Women The Russian confrontation between Anna Kazantseva (6-seed) and Sofia Goncharova (1-seed) hold all its promises: in a very exciting gold medal match Goncharova stopped her teammate from winning a second World Cup title in a row. Kazantseva indeed suffered from her “average” start (9-9-9-9) in her match, which she finally lost 115-114.

 

Oktiabrina Bolotova for her part failed to complete what could have been a 100% Russian podium. Facing Nichola Simpson (GBR), she could not shoot higher than a 110 score, not enough to beat the 112 points of her opponent. It is then the British lady who leaves Antalya with the twelveth and last medal.

 

Now San Salvador!

The second World Cup stage in Antalya was a great well-organized event. It is worth noting that Meteksan Sistem, title sponsor of this year’s Archery World Cup, decided to increase by five times the prize money given to each of the twelve medalists here! Archers, officials and spectators have enjoyed a lot this Turkish stage and will be looking to the next ones, in El Salvador in June and Shanghai in September, just before the Great World Cup Final to be held in Mexico in October.

 

A great archery competition is just over… Let’s meet in San Salvador for the third series in two weeks from now (20-25 June)!

Ludivine Maitre Wicki

FITA Communication