Korea three times as well as Mexico, Russia and Denmark!

 
  The weather conditions were still good this morning and fans came in high numbers, again showing their support for the Chinese teams as they did during the Olympic Games! The show was shown on live television in Shanghai.   Recurve Men   Gold Medal – Korea vs France Korea shot 229 yesterday but France was not far behind on 226. This match was promising.   Both teams shot a bit too much on the left in the first end. GIROUILLE caught a liner 10 with one second to go but France trailed 53-55.   Then France shot X-8-8-9-8 and GIROUILLE again caught a 10 in the last second! Korea was steady with 10-10-8-9-9-9 and increased their lead to 110-106.   Although the weather is still quite calm this morning, the wind is picking up from time to time. This created some trouble for both teams in the third end. France had 4-7-9-9-9 and X10 for GIROUILLE with, well, one second to go! Korea shot 8-X10-7-9-9-8, increasing their lead to 161-154.   GIROUILLE had a little more time in the last end. He shot the last arrow for France with two seconds left but only caught an 8 this time. Not enough to put pressure on the Koreans. They did not miss the gold in the last end and clinched it, 216-207   Today we had the top archer Crispin DUENAS (CAN) joining us for the commentary. He gave us his opinions on the matches, “The Crispin Corner”: The wind affected both teams but obviously France a bit more than Korea. VALLADON and AUBERT are not fast shooters and this did not give much time for GIROUILLE. The advantage of that actually is that he focused on his shot and didn’t second-guess the wind. At the same time, this leaves very little margin for errors. On the other hand, the Koreans seemed very much in control of their shots and their time.   Bronze Medal – Spain vs Mexico Mexico has more experience on final fields, especially Juan Rene SERRANO who was 4th at the last Olympic Games and is shot first in the line-up.   The Mexican had the best start and led 51-47.   SERRANO shot a 6 to start the second end and his teammate VELEZ SANCHEZ could not do any better right after him! MARIN COELLO compensated a bit with a 10. Then they shot 9-8-10 in the same order. Spain took advantage of it to cut the deficit to one point, 99-100.   Both teams had to go deep in the clock in the third end. Spain shot 9-9-9-9-8-7 and finished with two seconds left. Mexico had 9-8-8-8-9 and a 10 with one second left! They still led 152-150.   The Spanish archers could not put much pressure on the last end, starting with 8-8-8. Although they finished with 10-9-10, the Mexicans were solid with 9-9-7-X10-X10-8 to clinch bronze 205-203.   Crispin’s corner: Both teams had mistakes, but Mexico was a bit more consistent. They had a better group and that was just enough to win the match.   Recurve Women   Gold Medal – Korea (KOR) vs Russia (RUS) Same final as in Antalya and it was a very close match won by Korea! Russia again put pressure on Korea and led 54-52. Korea shot a bit too much on the right side of the target.   However the Koreans turned up the heat with 10-10-9-9-X10-10 in the second end, while Russia had some trouble with their last shooters scoring a 7 and an 8. Korea completely reversed the situation 110-105.   Korea continued strongly with 10-9-9-8-9-9 and increased the lead to 165-158.   Korea concluded 10-9-10-X10-8-9 to cruise to an easy victory this time, 221-210.   Crispin’s corner: Korea kept their form very well with only three arrows out of the gold (the 9 or 10 ring). Russia had some good shots but were not as consistent than the Koreans.   Bronze Medal – China vs Italy China is No. 2 in the FITA World Ranking and Italy is No. 3. However, the Chinese team is composed of new archers, while Italy has been shooting together for three seasons now.   China had a strong start with 9-9 and a 10 dead centre! Like the other two teams this morning Italy shot a bit left on the target. China however shot a 4 with the last arrow of the end. Italy could not really take advantage and trailed 53-51.   Italy turned it up in the second end, finding the yellow: 9-9-9-10-9-9. China lost a bit of consistency shooting X10-9-9-7-9-8. Italy led at the half, 106-105.   China ran into time trouble at the end of the third end. OUYANG had a very long hold at full draw (about 12 seconds), trying to figure out the wind. She scored an 8 and let only 10 seconds to shoot for her teammate ZHAO. She did not have the time to aim properly and shot a 5 with three seconds remaining.   In the meantime Italy has nice group with four arrows within a few millimetres of each other (four 9s at 12 o’clock on the target, plus a 9 and a 7). Italy led 158-155   China scored another 5 to start the last end and Italy cruised to an easy victory with 9-8-10-9-9-9, 210-203.   Crispin’s corner: China usually has fast shooters but not today. The wind did not help and maybe they had some nerves playing in front of a big home crowd. They definitely lost their chance at the end of the third end with time trouble. Italy is an experienced team that managed the match very well. It’s an advantage to shoot together for three years.   Recurve Mixed Team   Gold Medal – Korea vs China This was the same mixed recurve final as in Antalya where China won. Mixed teams have one woman and one man. They alternate with each arrow to shoot four ends of four arrows.   YUN Ok-Hee and OH Jin-Hyek (KOR) wanted revenge and started really well with 10-10-9-8 for 37 points. ZHAO Ling and CHEN Wenyuan (CHN) shot 7-8-10-8 for 33 points. It is worth noting that all of these archers will also shoot in the individual finals in the afternoon.   Korea increased its lead with ends of 37 and a perfect 40, while China shot 36 and 37. The Koreans led 114-106 and concluded with an impressive X10-X10-10-9 to clinch gold, 153-141!   Crispin’s corner: The Koreans were pounding the 10-ring! China had some faults, but when the Koreans shoot like that it’s very difficult to beat them.   Compound Men   Gold Medal – New Zealand vs. MEXICO The New Zealand women won the last World Cup in Antalya and now it was the turn of the men to shoot for gold! They had a good start and led 57-54.   Mexico tried to come back in the second end with 9-10-10-9-8-10 with 56 points and came back to 110-112.   The Mexicans continued their efforts with 8-9-10-10-10-9 for 56 points, while the New Zealanders were shooting a bit too much on the left of the target with 9-9-9-10-8-X10. They held a 1-point lead, 167-166.   Mexico kept shooting first in the last end and kept putting pressure with 9-X10-X10. New Zealand had 9-9-9 and were now trailing by one point! The Mexicans finished with 9-9 and the experienced Ruben OCHOA shot a final 9. The Kiwis had to keep it almost perfect to clinch gold. They shot an 8 and a 9 however and the last arrow could not change anything. CLIFTON shot a 10, but Mexico won 222-221!   Crispin’s corner: A very high intensity match. Both teams shot very well and the score stayed closed for the whole time. Too bad for them, the New Zealanders cracked at the end. It was a tough match for them because Mexico is always a strong, experience team.   Compound Women   Gold Medal – Mexico vs Russia No surprise with the teams represented in this match. The No. 1 seed Mexico shot against the no. 2 seed Russia, which is also the No.1 in the FITA World Ranking.   Mexico had the two OCHOA sisters and CRISANTO, while Russia fielded a younger team than usual with LOGINOVA, BALZHANOVA and KOROBEYNIKOVA who was 2nd in the recent Youth World Championships.   It seems to be a swirling wind in the Yuan Chen Stadium today, especially on the shooting line and not so much on the targets. Both teams started to shoot a bit left on the target. Russia figured it out a bit quicker though, scoring three 10s in the first end to take the lead 53-50.   However, Mexico turned up the heat in the second end 10-8-X10-10-9-X10 to reverse the situation, 107-105   The wind picked up a bit in the third end causing some troubles to the archers and Mexico ran into time difficulty. They had to rush to shoot their last three arrows and only scored 5-7-8. Russia completely turned the situation around to take the lead 157-152.   The last end did not change anything. Mexico shot a 54, while Russia had 55. Final score 212-205.   Today we had the top archer Crispin DUENAS (CAN) joining us for the commentary. He gave us his opinions on the matches, “The Crispin Corner”: The second end was deadly for Mexico. The wind picked up and their archers took too much time for their first three arrows of this end, trying to make a perfect shot. They had too much time pressure to shoot their last three arrows and they lost a lot of points. Russia was more consistent.   Compound Mixed Team   Gold Medal – Denmark vs Mexico As host of the World Cup Final, Denmark will shoot the mixed teams over there and it was fitting to see them in the mixed compound final today. Mexico was shooting its fourth match of the morning! Mixed teams have one woman and one man and shoot 4*4 arrows   Denmark started very well with X10-10-X10-9 and 10-X10-10-10 to take the lead 79-76!   Mexico’s Ruben and Linda OCHOA, uncle and niece, gave their best in the two last ends with 10-9-10-9 and 10-9-X10-9 to reach a total of 152. However, Camilla SOEMOD and Martin DAMSBO replied with 9-9-9-10 and 9-10-8-X10 to take a 1-point victory, 153-152!   Crispin’s corner: Again a very close match with some really good shooting. When you take the best women and the best man of a country, the level is really high!   Didier MIEVILLE Crispin DUENAS FITA Communication