The best archers of the year meet in Copenhagen

 
  The athletes have been qualified based on their top three results out of the four World Cup stages in Santo Domingo (DOM), Porec (CRO), Antalya (TUR) and Shanghai (CHN). The semifinal matches will be shot in the morning and final matches in the afternoon in front of HRH the Crown Prince Frederik, the Culture Minister of Denmark Carina CHRISTENSEN and other dignitaries. A total prize money of more than 150,000 USD is at stake.   Recurve Men The winner of Stage 1 in Santo Domingo, Romain GIROUILLE (FRA), will meet the winner of Stage 3 in Antalya, Simon TERRY (GBR), in semifinal. This is a clash between youth talent and experience. One of the most talented archers on earth, GIROUILLE was the 2006 youth world champion. He since then won two World Cup stages, participated in the Lausanne Final last year and recently clinched the team silver medal at the 2009 World Championships in Ulsan. Simon TERRY was a double medallist at the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games! He won team silver at the 2007 World Championships and prevailed in the only previous encounter versus GIROUILLE in the past (2008 World Cup stage in Boe).   The other semifinal will pair Jayanta TALUKDAR (IND) and Marco GALIAZZO (ITA). These two know each other well as they have met three times already. Every time the match took place at the Porec World Cup stage, in 2006, 2008 and 2009! Every time TALUKDAR won. He was actually the first winner of a World Cup stage in 2006. On the opposite, GALIAZZO was the 2004 Olympic champion!   Recurve Women The two Koreans will meet in the semifinal: YUN Ok-Hee and KWAK Ye-Ji. They are both recent team world champion! KWAK also took the individual silver medal in Ulsan this year and earned 1st place at the World Cup Stage 3 in Antalya. YUN is team Olympic champion in 2008, when she also won the individual bronze medal. Moreover, she is the only lady to have won four World Cup stages! YUN and KWAK have met twice in international competitions before and won one time each.   ZHAO Ling (CHN) has finally peaked this year with a victory at the Porec World Cup Stage 2, while Berengere SCHUH (FRA) has been a consistent top archer during the last decade. She was indoor world champion in 2003, European outdoor champion in 2008 and she won the team bronze in Beijing.   Compound Men Not only are the four finalists the best archers in 2009, they are also the top 4 in the overall FITA world ranking!   Braden GELLENTHIEN (USA) and Jorge JIMENEZ (ESA) met for gold at the World Cup Final in 2007 in Dubai. JIMENEZ then prevailed in a very tight match! GELLENTHIEN previously beat the Salvadorian in Varese, where the American found himself one perfect arrow away from the match world record. Both are truly great archers with many individual victories. One last note: JIMENEZ finally won a team bronze at the Ulsan World Championships this year, while GELLENTHIEN, at age 23, has already won four times the team outdoor world title!   Sergio PAGNI (ITA) and Patrizio HOFER (SUI) are true friends outside the field. They will have to leave friendship aside during their semifinal. PAGNI won their last encounter at the recent World Cup stage in Shanghai. In fact, PAGNI is the only one who has won four World Cup stages! He has a revenge to take because he only finished 4th at the World Cup Final last year, while HOFER was the runner-up!      Camilla SOEMOD (DEN) Compound Women Almost as impressive as the compound men, these four female finalists are ranked between 1 and 5 in the overall FITA world ranking.   The winner of Stage 2 in Porec, Nicky HUNT (GBR), will meet the winner of Stage 3 in Antalya, Luzmary GUEDEZ (VEN), in semifinal. HUNT has had her best season ever this year, while GUEDEZ already won a World Cup stage in 2008 (Boe). She beat HUNT in quarterfinal in Antalya this year.   Denmark will be represented in this category with Camilla SOEMOD! She will play Ivana BUDEN (CRO) in the second semifinal. SOEMOD is back in stellar form after her two European individual titles (indoor and outdoor) in 2006. She won in Shanghai this year and came close to a medal at the world championships, finishing 4th. Finally, SOEMOD beat BUDEN for 3rd place in Antalya this year. The Croatian has progressively come on top of this category over the last two years. She was 4th at the World Cup Final in Lausanne last year and climbed three times on the podium at a World Cup stage. She also won bronze in field archery at the World Games last July.   The competition will also feature two mixed team matches. In recurve, the Danish hosts will play China. In compound, the local pair SOEMOD-DAMSBO will play Italy.   Rolf LIND, chairman of the Danish Archery Association, said: “We are proud to present the world’s best archers—including SOEMOD and two mixed teams on home turf—at a spectacular location such as Nyhavn. This is world-class archery and the spectators can look forward to a fantastic experience.”   It is the first time that By & Havn (CPH City & Port Development) has given permission to use the historic part of the port, the canal in Nyhavn, to a sports event. “The Archery World Cup Final will showcase Copenhagen on the international sports scene as a creative and unique player when it comes to arranging and executing world class sporting events. The archery finals clearly show that we can use the city as a beautiful setting for international events,” said Marin BENDER, deputy director of Wonderful Copenhagen.   The Archery World Cup Final is a part of The Danish Year of Sport 2009. More than 50 international sports events and congresses will be held around the country throughout the year including the IOC Session and Olympic Congress, which will follow the Archery World Cup Final.   Didier MIEVILLE FITA Communication