6 April 2007 - Review of the individual Final matches

Review of the individual Final matches Ulsan – 6 April 2007   The first stage of the 2007 Archery World Cup came to an end this afternoon with the individual bronze and gold medal matches taking place at the Munsu International Archery Centre in Ulsan, Korea. With Chinese Taipei, Korea, El Salvador and Russia, it is three continents that are represented among the winners of this first event. This event was a big success with live TV coverage and a large number of cheering spectators.       Wang Cheng Pang (TPE) Gold medal – Recurve Men  Kuo Cheng Wei (TPE)

The final match of the first World Cup stage of the year in Ulsan was featuring two team-mates again: Wang Cheng Pang and Kuo Cheng Wei from Chinese Taipei. Twelve arrows to decide who of these two archers would become the first World Cup winner of the year in the male Recurve category. The best start was for Wang with 27 points, but Kuo was not far behind with 25 at that time. A big shift of the wind forced the archers to compensate and it was hard for them to be as close to the centre as they wished. The wind calming down for the third end helped Kuo and Wang shoot a pair of 10s each. With three arrows to go, Wang was leading by three points (81-78), an advantage he kept to win his first World Cup title on the final score of 108-105!       Balzhinima Tsyrempilov (RUS) Bronze medal – Recurve Men Im Dong Hyun (KOR)

Best start for the local archer who shot two 10s out of his first three arrows to lead by two points after the first end (28-26). However, the Russian came back from behind, himself shooting a 10 and a pair of 9s in the second end, while his opponent was having a hard time shooting 9-8-7. The advantage was to Tsyrempilov by two points half way. The match became tenser, the two archers both scoring a pair of 10s in the third end. Behind by one point before the last three arrows, Im first shot a poor 7, but then scored a perfect 10. Only one arrow to go and the difference was the smallest possible in favour of the Russian! The latter managed to keep the lead finishing with 108 and his Korean opponent with 106.

      Choi Eun Young (KOR) Gold medal – Recurve Women Park Sung Hyun (KOR) The two Koreans were tied after the first three arrows (27) and after the second end as well (54). With her third arrow Park shot a perfect X (10) right into the center where the camera was, something she did twice during the Olympic Games in Athens. The reigning Olympic Champion took the lead at the ninth arrow when her opponent shot an 8. She then added to her superiority shooting a perfect last end (10-10-10) to finish with 111 points. Although shooting right into the camera as well with her last arrow, Choi could not stop her team-mate to win another title in her already well crowned career.       Yun Ok Hee (KOR) Bronze medal – Recurve Women Lee Tuk Young (KOR)

The bronze medal match between the two Korean ladies Yun and Lee was not as exciting as local fans had expected. Scoring two bad ends of 23 and 22, Lee was already behind by 9 points mid-way through the match (45-54). The duel then balanced itself but, in a match of 12 arrows only, it was too late for Lee who had to concede victory to her team-mate Yun.       Reza Zamaninejad (IRI) Gold medal - Compound Men Jorge Jimenez (ESA)

Amazing match between the best two Compound Men archers of this tournament! Zamaninejad and Jimenez shot exactly the same eight first arrows (10-9-10-9-9-10-10-9). It is then the competitor from El Salvador who took the lead shooting a perfect arrow while his opponent from Iran scored a 9. This was enough for Jimenez who kept this advantage up to the end to win his first World Cup event after he finished 4th, 3rd, 2nd and 2nd last year. Final score: 115-114.

      Sofia Goncharova (RUS) Gold medal - Compound Women Anna Kazantseva (RUS)

World Cup 2006 winner Sofia Goncharova faced difficulties entering into her match against her team-mates Anna Kazantseva. Shooting 7-8-9, she was already 4 points behind after the first end. She could not recover from such a bad start, since Kazantseva proved stronger starting with 28 and 29 first ends. Although Goncharova aimed better in the second half of the match (28 and 28), her total of 106 was too low to stop her friend from taking revenge and win her second World Cup stage after that in Porec last year.  

      Logan Wilde (USA) Bronze medal - Compound Men Fred Van Zutphen (NED)

This match reached a high level in spite of the wind blowing strong again. Shooting two perfect ends out of four, Van Zutphen stopped Wilde to win the bronze medal. With a total of 117 points out of a possible 120, the Dutch archers just proved too strong in this match for the American Logan.         Foury Akadiani Kusumaniah (INA) Bronze medal - Compound Women Shabani Akram (IRI)

The first match of the afternoon was kind of a "no match"... The Indonesian Kusumaniah left no chance to her opponent who shot a very bad match. The Iranian Akram could not pass the 100-point barrier and had to leave the bronze medal to Kusumaniah (99-106).

      Read what the archers said today: QUOTES All the RESULTS See more PHOTOS Let's meet again at the beginning of May for the second stage in Varese, Italy!!!   Ludivine Maitre Wicki FITA Communication