Indoor World Championships - Quotes of Qualifications

Recurve Men   Simon TERRY (GBR) photo left – No. 1 seed I am enjoying it! I’ve still had a fresh mind since 2007, after ten years out of competition. In the last two years, I don’t think I’ve reached my full potential, especially mentally. Now, I am working with a psychologist and I am more confident, I truly believe in myself. I was not such a fan of indoor, but this year I got on a roll since the tournament in Nimes and it’s going quite well again here.   My goal is to reach some final matches throughout the season. We have World Cups, World Championships, all these competitions are exciting. There is also more money to win in archery than in the past. I am not projecting myself to the London Olympic Games or even later, I just want to have fun with each competition!  Brady ELLISON (USA) photo right – No. 3 seed I actually shot a lower score than usual. I have regularly reached the mid 90s in practice (redaction note: around 595 points). I have won in Compound Junior at the 2005 World Championships in Aalborg (DEN), but I haven’t shot much indoor since I’ve turned to recurve. This season, I decided to shoot a bit more. It went well in Las Vegas and we’ll see with the matches of tomorrow.   It will be a long season, all the way to the World Championships in Ulsan and the World Cup Final in Copenhagen. I take it as a learning season and I hope to go to many tournaments to get experience. However, I do have ambitions. I hope to qualify for the World Cup Final.  Recurve Women   Berengere SCHUH (FRA) photo left – No. 1 seed – New world record holder with 592 points It was a battle until the very last arrow! I actually shot 28 and 27 points in the second and third ends. That made me angry and I decided to give it all after that. I reached halfway with 294 points, two behind Natalia VALEEVA. It motivated me even more and we were neck and neck the whole time until the end. Before the last end, I was one point ahead of Natalia and I needed to score 29 (out of 30) to break the world record. I had one bad arrow but I concentrated well on the other two. I scored these 29 points to get the world record and the first place, keeping that 1-point advantage over Natalia. It’s a great day and I just want to enjoy these moments!   I think indoor competitions ask more mentally. I think it’s 90% mental and 10% for the skill/physical shape. I’ve been using a new breathing technique for 18 months. It paid off at the Olympic Games. It helps me to manage the stress, although there will always be some stress. With the Olympic team medal, I feel more expectations on myself. My main objective here is to win another medal and I hope for the title. First and foremost, I absolutely don’t want to lose shooting a bad match tomorrow.   Natalia VALEEVA (ITA) photo right – No. 2 seed – Four times indoor world champion and still shooting You know, I will never be really happy with a second place, but I am happy with the level of my shooting. I have made some changes since the Olympic Games.   After the Olympic Games, I had to correct some elements of my technique and material. I am actually shooting now with arrows that are 2cm longer. It helps me to be more in line, more stable. It was obviously a disappointing result during the Olympic Games, especially after the outdoor world title in 2007. However, in 2007 I was coming back after giving birth. I had only four months of preparation, before the world championships. I set up my way of shooting and it worked fine until the beginning of 2008. However, I didn’t realise I became physically stronger and I did not adapt my shooting. After the Olympic Games, I asked my former coach Franco BASILI and he told me “you are shooting too short”, meaning I need to shoot with longer arrows and adapt some elements of my technique. It’s like a puzzle to put together. I also asked other experts such as Marco PEDRATSI, Valdimir ESHEEV or Liudmila AJKANNIKOVA with whom I was shooting at the beginning of my career, a long time ago.   Many archers that I used to shoot with are now coaches, but I am still competing. I like it! I still want to push the limits higher. Better material and experience help me a lot. Even my young days during the USSR still help me. They taught me discipline on the line of shooting. Nowadays, while I can’t shoot that much, I must at least concentrate on quality. The Indoor World Championships were created in 1991. I won that one and three other times but the scores were not so high in the past. We all learned and now we are close to perfection.   FITA Communication