Recurve Brackets Analysis

What do qualifications mean at an archery event? They indicate who is shooting well and are certainly a boost of confidence to the successful archers. They select who will shoot in the single elimination matches. At the Leipzig World Championships, the cuts were at 128 individuals and at 16 for teams. This means most of the teams have already lost their hopes to qualify for the Olympic Games. Finally, the qualifications seed the archers for the match-brackets. In Leipzig, the dramas one can imagine with these brackets leave nothing to envy with either Wimbledon or Roland Garros.   Natalya Erdyniyeva (RUS)    Recurve Women Individual The Recurve Women will shoot on Thursday morning and the 128-archer bracket has four quarters. Let’s have a closer look at each quarter. In the first quarter, seed Park (KOR) seems to have a clear run and only may warrant some caution with Cwienczek (POL) on the way to the quarter-finals. At this stage, she could meet a handful of talented young archers–Mospinek (POL), Burgess (GBR), Folkard (GBR) - or the experienced Field World Champion Cekada (SLO) or Varese World Cup bronze medallist Marasuva (BLR). It is worth nothing Folkard defeated a Korean archer recently in Antalya.   In the second quarter of the bracket, Schuh (FRA) seeded no. 5, has a difficult route. She may face Dorokhova (UKR) in the second round, Nichols (USA) in the third round, Berezhna (UKR) or Marcinkiewicz (POL) in the 1/8. If she survives all these matches, Schuh could face Indoor World Champion 2007 Hayakawa (JPN) in the quarter-finals. Hayakawa will nevertheless need to pay attention to the talented young Waller (AUS) in the second round.      Choi Eun Young (KOR)The third quarter could give birth to an explosive 1/8 elimination round. No. 3 seed Choi (KOR) should meet no. 14 Erdyniyeva (RUS) the two archers are currently on top of the World Cup Ranking 2007! The winner of this match should meet Shen (TPE), seeded no. 6 in the quarter-final. Then close attention should also be given to Pian (USA) and Koval (UKR).   The last individual quarter is probably the most difficult. World Cup 2006 Winner Zhang (CHN), European Champion 2006 Gallardo (ESP), Olympic medallist Williamson (GBR) and World’s 2005 silver medallist Lee (KOR) are all in this part of the draw. The last part of the bracket includes the young talents Guo (CHN), Banerjee (IND) and Tonetta (ITA) who will all try to prevent Valeeva (ITA) from winning another medal in a great career.   Recurve Women TeamOnly the top eight teams (or nine depending on China’s result) qualify for the Olympic Games Beijing 2008. This means the first round of the team event Friday afternoon is crucial. It will be a true battle of Europe versus Asia: France vs. Japan, Russia vs. India, DPR Korea vs. Great Britain and Chinese Taipei vs. Ukraine, which may be dramatic for the losing continent. Another tense match will be Italy vs. USA. A greatly improved team of Colombia beat Turkey in a qualifications shoot-off on Monday. The Colombians will no doubt enjoy their first round match versus the favourite Koreans. Germany and Mexico are two teams that must have been very disappointed to miss qualifying.   Recurve Men Individual 
The first quarter of the Recurve Men’s bracket is ferocious. The no. 1 seed Lee (KOR) has some formidable competitors in his part of the draw such as Rai (IND), Duenas (CAN), Hirstov (BUL), World Cup 2007 leader Tsyrempilov (RUS), his team-mate Badenov (RUS) and the experienced Van Alten (NED). All these archers can win a lot of matches in any given day! However, tomorrow they will meet each other in early rounds. If Lee survives this part of the draw, he could meet his team-mate and recent World Cup winner in Antalya, Kim (KOR). The second Korean has to take care of Ruban (UKR) or Yong (CHN) previously. 

The second quarter of the bracket of the draw isn’t too shabby either. The no. 5 seed Furukawa (JPN) could meet Wunderle (USA) in the third round. Another American, Ellison (USA) should meet the match specialist Di Buo (ITA) in the second round. The winner will then meet either Ivashko (UKR) or Frangilli (ITA). Not an easy task at all. In the same quarter, Girouille (FRA) could meet Velez Sanchez (MEX) and then the no. 4 seed Terry (GBR). In other words the roads to the semi-finals of Furukawa or Terry are really difficult. 

The no. 3 seed Kuo (TPE) may face Worlds 2005 silver medallist Moriya in the second round. After that the road seems easier to the 1/8 of final, where one of them should meet Banerjee (IND). Below in the bracket, we find the Australian (Korean-born) Kim, Wang (TPE) and the two Britons Wills and Godfrey. 

The fourth quarter could give birth to a terrific 1/8 of final with Petersson (SWE) and Galiazzo (ITA). The winner should be met by the no. 2 seed Im (KOR), if he defeats archers like Serrano (MEX) or Amano (JPN). 

Recurve Men Team 
The first round will be decisive for the Olympic qualifications. Like for the women, it will be a terrific battle between Asia and Europe. The no. 1 seed Korea will shoot against the recent World Cup winner in Antalya, Russia! China will shoot against Ukraine and Italy against India. Moreover, there are three intra-continental duals: Chinese Taipei vs. Malaysia, Sweden vs. Great Britain and an eagerly anticipated Canada vs. Mexico. The last two matches should be close too: Japan vs. USA and Poland vs. Australia. 
  Stays tuned to the FITA website for live comments of each round and beware of first round upsets!   Didier Miéville FITA Communication