5 May 2007 - Four champions from four countries on the individual podium !

Four champions from four countries on the individual podium ! Varese - 5 May 2007   The rain finally did not show up in this afternoon of exciting individual final matches here in Varese. The gold medallists are Ericsson (SWE), Gellenthien (USA), Lee (KOR) and Frangilli (ITA). The matches were shot in the presence of FITA Honorary President Mr. Francesco Gnecchi-Ruscone.   Recurve Men Gold Final The first end was tied between the Russian archer Tsyrempilov and the Italian archer Frangilli (27-27). But the local archer didn’t want to lose his match in front of live TV and cheering fans on the stand. He increased the score and led the match all the way through the final arrow. He takes gold with a score of 109-107. Tsyrempilov gets a well deserved silver medal.   Recurve Men Bronze Final This must have been the most exciting match of the day… Aubert (FRA) started behind Nespoli (ITA) (25-28). In the second end Nespoli was still ahead with 54-53. In the third end, Nespoli shot three 9s, while Aubert took the lead by shooting 9-10-10, and the score by then was of 82-81. Aubert didn’t wan’t to let his chance pass by and he continued to increase the lead in the last end, and eventually he brought the bronze medal home ! The final score was 110-109.   Recurve Women Gold Final The Korean archer Lee took a 2 point advantage as of the first end, without letting the Russian archer come closer to her. However, the Korean was almost reached by the Russian in the last end. Lee needed a 10 with her last arrow to clinch the match. She actually did better: X10 to take the gold home ! The final score was 112-111. Erdyniyeva goes back with silver.   Recurve Women Bronze Final The archer from Belarus, Marusava, took the lead in the match as of the first end by two points (25-23). She then increased the lead slowly in each end. The first end of Valeeva was quite low with 7-7-9, which couldn’t allow her to come back to the score. Bronze goes for Marusava with a score of 105-102.   Compound Men Gold Final The match begun very well with a perfect score for Gellenthien (USA), and “only” 29 pts for Jimenez (ESA). But Gellenthien wanted to impress his opponent by shooting only 10s, which he did until the last but one arrow (last arrow was a 9!). With the American scoring 119 pts, Jimenez couldn’t do better with his 117 pts, although he tried hard to come back. If Gellenthien would have shot a 10 with her last arrow, he would have broken the world record with 120pts, including eight times "X10". It was nevertheless a great performance : gold goes to Gellenthien, and Jimenez takes silver medal.   Compound Men Bronze Final The match was first led by the Swiss archer Hofer, who shot a perfect end (30-28). But suddenly he shot an 8 and a 9 and his opponent from Brazil, Dos Santos, took advantage of the situation to shoot in his turn a perfect score and go over Hofer by one point (58-57). Dos Santos was too strong for Hofer, as he continued to drop his score. The final result was 116-114 in favour of Dos Santos, who takes bronze home.   Compound Women Gold Final The match was led by the Swedish archer Ericsson from the beginning to the end with the score difference growing end after end. Van Natta (USA) was not strong enough against Ericsson and she lost the gold medal match with a score of 110-116. Ericsson goes home with the gold medal! Van Natta gets the silver one…   Compound Women Bronze Final The match begun very badly for the Iranian archer Akram, who shot a 6 as first arrow. Willems (BEL) shot a perfect score and led the match from that first end up to the last one. The final score was of 115-104 in favour of Willems.     Chantal Steiner FITA Communication