31 May 2010 - Russia big winner at European Championships

Russia big winner at European Championships Lausanne – 31 May 2010 Natalya ERDYNIYEVA (RUS)    The European Championships came to an end on 29 May 2010 in Rovereto, Italy. The big winner was Russia with four gold, one silver and two bronze medals. Italy comes as the second best nation with seven medals as well, but one gold, four silver and two bronze.   Women Individual In the all-Russian Recurve final a strong start by Natalya ERDYNIYEVA looked under attack when Inna SEPANOVA won the third and fourth sets. However, ERDYNIYEVA pulled back in the final set to win gold, 6-4. An early draw in the bronze final did not stop Begunhan Elif UNSAL of Turkey from beating Justyna MOSPINEK of Poland 7-3 for a place on the podium.
In the Compound event it was another Russian, Viktoria BALZHANOVA, who prevailed 6-2 over Gladys WILLEMS of Belgium. To complete the set of five women's medals for an ecstatic Russian delegation, Albina LOGINOVA had a simiarly triumphant win in the bronze final, leaving Andrea WEIHE of Germany behind to win 6-2.   Men Individual After a disappointing day on Friday the British delegation were celebrating on Saturday afternoon when, in the Men's Compound final, Andrew RIKUNENKO slew the formidable Italian Sergio PAGNI in five tightly-fought sets, ending with a nail-biting draw, to win 6-4. Peter ELZINGA (NED) took bronze after a convincing 7-3 win against Vladas SIGAUSKAS (LTU).
Another European champion was made in the Men's Recurve event when French Romain GIROUILLE shot down previous world champion, Italian Michele FRANGILLI. The match began with two draws but in the end GIROUILLE pulled ahead to win 6-4. Markiyan IVASHKO of Ukraine took the third spot after holding Florian FLOTO of Germany to a 7-3 score in the bronze final.   Team In Recurve Men Germany won the gold against Italy that shot a 5 and a 6 in the third end (206-197). Russia won against Spain in Women Recurve (202-195). In Compound Men Russia beat Netherlands (226-223), while Belgium won the gold in Compound Women against Italy (221-217)   Recurve Mixed Team Marco GALIAZZO and Natalia VALEEVA beat Sebastian ROHRBERG and Elena RICHTER by two points 150-148 winning the first recurve mixed team gold medal in the history of the European Championships. Great Britain (Simon TERRY and Charlotte BURGESS) beat Ukraine (Viktor RUBAN and Victoriya KOVAL) by three points on the last arrow (144-141) and won the bronze medal.   Compound Mixed Team In a nail-biting final, the gold medal was decided by a judge's decision on a single line. Anders MALM and Isabell DANIELSSON of Sweden clinched the European title 147-146 against Martin DAMSBO and Camilla SOEMOD of Denmark. Slovenia (Dejan SITAR and Maja MARCEN PAVLIN) placed third beating Belgium (Luc VERDEYEN and Gladys WILLEMS) by only one point (147-146).   Source: www.rovereto2010.com Edited World Archery Communication