6 July 2011 - As in Ulsan, France and Korea will meet for gold

As in Ulsan, France and Korea will meet for gold Turin – 6 July 2011   It was team elimination day at the 18th-century hunting residence of Stupinigi in Turin, Italy. All teams and mixed teams shot matches from 1/8 elimination to 1/2 final. At the end France, on the men’s side, and Italy, on the women’s side, survived a first round shoot-off on the way to the final.   The first round was critical for the recurve division, both men and women. The eight teams who won their first matches automatically received three quota spots for next year's Olympic Games in London. Only the recurve division participates at the Olympic Games. The top 8 recurve teams per gender in Turin earned three Olympic spots (one for each team member) for London 2012. As host country, Great Britain has one team spot automatically. This means if Great Britain was in the top 8, the 9th team in the competition also qualified. Moreover, the top 8 individuals (from other countries than the qualified teams) will also earn one berth. This makes 35 places that are non-nominative—places belong to the country. There will be subsequent continental qualifiers until the Olympic Games to reach 64 athletes per gender.   Recurve Men TeamThe biggest clash on paper in the first round was probably the match between the No. 7 seeded team China and the No. 10 India. China took up a good lead in the first end 55-51. India closed the gap after 12 arrows, 105-107. The Indian athletes shot really well in the third end with X10-X10-X10-10-9-8, while the Chinese scored 10-10-9-8-8-8. India was in the lead 162-160. BANERJEE-RAI-TALUKDAR finished with X10-10-9-9-8-7. However, China was more solid in the last end and did not miss the yellow: X10-10-9-9-9. China finally took victory 216-215!   The match between the No. 5 Mexico and the No. 12 Russia was also a close affair. Russia led 53-52, and then the match was tied at 104-104. Mexico took a 1-point lead after three ends, 160-159. The Russians finished the match with 10-9-8-8-8-7 for only 50 points (out of 60) in the last end. The Mexicans scored a 6 in their last end but were really solid with their other arrows: X10-10-9-9-9 for 53 points. Victory and Olympic qualifications for Mexico: 213-209!   The No. 3 France got into a difficult match against the No. 14 Malaysia. The French athletes had a bad start with X10-10-9-7-7-6 and trailed 49-51. They kept trailing 103-105 and 159-161 after the next two ends. They finished with X10-X10-10-9-9-9 (57 points) to reach 216 points. Malaysia scored X10-X10-9-9-9-8 (55) and the match was tied at 216-216! Shoot-off!    In fact, there were three shoot-offs across the whole field (Malaysia v France on the men’s side, Ukraine v Poland and Italy v Georgia on the women’s side). All shoot-offs were irregularly conducted by timing control error, giving 40 seconds instead 60 seconds. Three teams lodged an appeal (Malaysia, Poland, and Italy). As the timing rules were not correctly applied, the decision of the Jury was to repeat these three shoot-offs based on the fact that these shoot-offs were invalid (please see the official FITA statement to be released soon).   In the valid shoot-off, Malaysia scored 9-9-8. Thanks to a 10 from the 17-year old Gael PREVOST, France scored 9-10-8 and won the qualifications (27-26).   For more details on the first elimination round, qualifier for the Olympic spots, please read our special article to be released later on.   In the quarterfinals three matches were very tight. The No. 5 Mexico and No. 4 USA faced each other. Led by the World Cup Final winner Brady ELLISON, the Americans took the lead at 56-55. But the Mexicans recovered and overtook their opponents at 167-165 after the first half. In the third end Mexico had more 8s and USA lots of 9s to allow the latter to come back to one point only at 110-111. However, with two 7s shot in the last end, Team USA could not hope for victory and remained one point behind, 217-218, for a big upset!   In their quarterfinal match against Ukraine (No. 6), France (No. 3) led by three (57-54), two (113-111), and five points (169-164). As they were heading towards a comfortable victory, the Frenchmen saw their contenders come close dangerously, but they still manage to keep a 1-point lead at the end (222-221). Italy (No. 2) and China (No. 7) were tied 163-163with only one end to go. The competitors from the host country proved the strongest at the end, finishing the match with four 10s and two 9s for a total of 221. The Chinese competitors scored two 10s and four 9s to finish two points behind (219). Finally, the No. 1 team Korea trailed Great Britain 111-112 at the half-way mark, and 165-166 with one end to go. An unfortunate 7 for GBR in the last end and they bowed before Korea, 219-224.   Korea and Mexico faced each other in the first semifinal. The Asian favourites took an early lead, 56-53, after six arrows. IM/KIM/OH kept increasing their advantage all over (115-107, 174-165) to clinch the match on the score of 230-220. In the second semifinal, France was against the host nation Italy. The teams were tied after six arrows at 54 points each. In the second end, the Frenchmen scored only 10s and 9s, while Italy had two 8s and found themselves behind by four points: 111-107 in favour of France. The difference remained with only one end to go at 168-164. Although GIROUILLE/PREVOST/VALLADONT had an 8 in the last end, they managed to keep a 3-point lead at the end to shoot for the world title against Korea on Sunday morning. Mexico will face Italy for bronze.   Recurve Women TeamIn the first round (1/8), two matches ended on a tied score. Therefore, between Ukraine v Poland and Italy v Georgia the Olympic spots were decided in a shoot-off. Moreover, the competition was delayed due to an appeal by three teams (POL and ITA in recurve women, Malaysia in recurve men). All the shoot-offs were irregularly conducted by timing control, giving 40 seconds instead of 60 seconds to shoot three arrows. As the timing rules were not correctly applied, the decision of the Jury was to repeat these three shoot-offs based on the fact that they were invalid.   When competition resumed, Ukraine with MYLCHENKO/SICHENIKOVA/KOVAL scored 8-10-9 in the tie-break. Their opponents from Poland MOSPINEK/LIPIARSKA/LESNIAK shot 9-9-8 and lost the match and the Olympic spots at stake. In the other shoot-off the host country Italy, with SARTORI/TOMASI/VALEEVA, started with 8 and 7. Team Georgia made up of NARIMANIDZE/DIASAMIDZE/ESEBUA scored 8 and 9 with their first two arrows. As Kristine ESEBUA was faster than Natalia VALEEVA to release the last arrow and shot an 8, the Italian needed a 10 to tie the match. Holding her nerves perfectly, she did a 10, offering victory to her team, as her arrow was obviously closest to the centre than the best arrow of Georgia.   Another interesting match in the first round was between the No. 7 seeded team Great Britain and No. 10 Russia. After the Eastern European representatives took the lead after the first six arrows (51-50), the score was reversed by their opponents: 105-102 for the British ladies at the half-way mark. The Russians, led by the reigning European champion Natalya ERDYNIYEVA, recovered the lead with only one end to go at 159-158. They managed to keep their 1-point advantage up to the end to upset next year's Olympics host country 214-213. Inna STEPANOVA said after her team's victory: "We were seeded lower than GBR. They were already sure to go to London (note: as the host country, they automatically get three spots) but they did their best anyway. It was a tight match but at the end we won by one point. Enough to clinch the match!"   For more details on the first elimination round, qualifier for the Olympic spots, please read our special article to be released later on.   In quarterfinal the top seeded team Korea took an early lead after six arrows (59-52) and kept control over the match all the way through. They clinched victory 225-211 over Ukraine. China, seeded No. 2 after qualification, faced Russia (No. 10). The match was tied in the first three ends (54-53, 106-107, 160-157), but in the last end the Russians shot two 7s, losing an opportunity to recover. The Chinese clinched the match by 214-209.   The quarterfinal between India (No. 4) and Denmark (No. 12) remained tied through the first half (51-51, 100-100). However, the highest seeded nation directed their efforts towards the second half to take the lead at 153-148 with six arrows to go. The Indians finally won the match 203-197. The last quarterfinal match was between the host country Italy (No. 3) and Chinese Taipei (No. 6). The Italians took an early 2-point lead that they increased (107-101, 163-154) to easily qualify for the semifinals, 219-209.   The top 4 seeded teams were all present in the semifinals of the recurve women division. Korea (1) faced India (4). In this match, Korea started with two 8s in the first end, an unusual situation for the Korean stars who trailed by two (53-55). They recovered one point with their following six arrows to come to one point (107-108). The two teams then scored an equal series of six arrows and the difference remained (159-160). For once, the Korean ladies were the ones shaking in the end shooting two more 8s for a total of 212 only. The Indians scored three 10s, two 9s and an 8 to clinch the match and a big upset with 216! The second semifinal between China (2) and Italy (3) was tied after the first end at 54-54. The Chinese ladies opened the second end with a 7 and trailed 107-108 after the first half. The match was decided in the last two arrows of the third end when they again scored two 7s to trail by seven points (158-165). At the end Italy clinched an easy win by 221-213.   Ludivine MAITRE WICKI / Didier MIEVILLE World Archery Communication