4 July 2008 - The Best Archers in the World at the Final in Lausanne

PRESS RELEASE   Lausanne (SUI) – 4 July 2008     The Best Archers in the World at the Final in Lausanne   The 16 best archers in the world qualified last week in Boe (FRA) for the World Cup Final in Lausanne, which will take place on 27 September 2008. Many World and Olympic Champions will compete in Lausanne, and this guarantees a great show!   Stage 4 of the Meteksan Archery World Cup in Boe gave its verdict. Some victories were decided upon tiny millimetres on a target placed at 70 metres. The four best archers of the four categories qualified for the World Cup Final in Lausanne. Read more about the best athletes of the year!   Recurve Men The Ukrainian Viktor Ruban qualified for the Final 2008 thanks to his victory in Boe. He will play against the young and talented Frenchman Romain Girouille and two exceptional shooters from Korea, Im Dong-Hyun and Park Kyung-Mo. They are both current Team Olympic Champion. Im is the current Individual World Champion. Park became the Individual World Champion in 1993 at only 18 years old and also won the World Cup Final in 2006.   Recurve Women Olympic Champion both in Individual and Team as well as several times World Champion, Park Sung-Hyun (KOR) will fight again against Natalia Valeeva (ITA). The Italian was bronze medallist at the Olympic Games in Barcelona and six times Individual World Champion (2x Outdoor and 4x Indoor), including the last Outdoor World Championships in 2007 in Leipzig, Germany. The two other participants will be Yun Ok Hee (KOR) top photo—who broke the match world record in the third stage in Antalya this year—and Justyna Mospinek (POL).   Compound Men Finishing 4th in Boe, Patrizio Hofer (SUI) left photo ensured a place for the World Cup Final “at home”. He had missed the last two Finals in 2006 and 2007 for a few points only. Patrick Coghlan (AUS) had to win in Boe to qualify for the Final and he did it! Hofer and Coghlan will meet Sergio Pagni (ITA), two times World Cup winner this season, and the current World Champion Dietmar Trillus (CAN).   Compound Women Jamie Van Natta (USA) is the sole archer that will compete in the World Cup Final for the third time in a row. She holds many world records and will start as the favourite in Lausanne. She will play against Ivana Buden (CRO), Nichola Simpson (GBR) and Amandine Bouillot (FRA).   The athletes qualified based on their top three results out of the four World Cup stages (Santo Domingo (DOM), Porec (CRO), Antalya (TUR) and Boe (FRA).The semi-final matches will be played in the morning and final matches in the afternoon at the World Cup Final in Lausanne on 27 September 2008. These matches will be broadcast live on television worldwide.   For more info, ranking or photos: www.archeryworldcup.org   Didier Miéville FITA Communication Director