USA reach three team finals, Korea upset in Recurve Men

   The recurve shoot in the morning with the traditional 24-arrow matches (4 ends of 6 arrows, best total score wins). The compound played in the afternoon with the Hit/Miss format (Set System, 4 sets of 6 arrows).  Recurve Men In this category, Korea and the USA had a bye in the 1/8 elimination round. At this stage only two teams dominated their matches from the beginning to the end: France against Germany (58-53, 114-110, 169-162, 225-217) and China against Spain (55-52, 112-105, 166-158, 223-210). Australia trailed Canada 54-57 but soon came back (109-108, 166-161) to win the match 214-217. The No 3 India was leading the No 14 Colombia 109-106 at the halfway mark. The archers from South America made a great recovery in the third end to lead 162-160. Their advantage didn’t last long, for India came back in the last end to win 215-213. The archers from Chinese Taipei (No 5) and Mongolia (No 12) tied at 57-57 and 112-112. Finally the better seeded team emerged as the winner (170-166, 225-218). The match between Italy and Great Britain was the tightest. The Italians led 55-53 but the British archers came back at 166-165. The match ended in a tie 221-221. Italy took the shoot-off.   In quarterfinals, Korea won easily over France. The score evolution was 57-52, 113-105, 170-159, 226-214. China shot the highest score of the round across the whole field with 228, just three points shy of the world record. It was still a close match versus Chinese Taipei. The score evolved 57-56, 115-111, 171-168. Then Chinese Taipei finished with 10-10-9-9-8-8 and China did 10-10-10-9-9-9. Final score 228-222. Italy dominated India 56-53, 114-106, 165-162, 219-216. It was closer between Australia and the USA. The Americans took the lead 54-51, 107-106. Then they shot 10-9-9-9-9-9, while the Australians did 10-10-9-9-9-9 to tie the match at 162-162. Australia finished with 8-9-7-8-9-9. Not enough to challenge until the end the USA who shot 8-9-10-8-9-10. The USA won 218-212!   In semifinals, the Korean team seemed to be a comfortable lead after two ends. They shot 10-10-9-9-9-7 and X10-10-10-10-9-8 for 111 points. China had two ends of 53 (10-10-9-8-8-8 and X10-10-9-9-8-7). The Koreans kept a 4-point lead after the third end. They shot 10-10-10-9-9-9, while the Chinese athletes had 10-10-10-10-9-9. The score was 168-164. However the Koreans had some troubles in the last end with 9-9-9-9-9-7. China shot much better with X10-10-10-9-9-9. They performed a come-back victory to upset the Koreans 221-220! In the other semifinals, USA took a good lead after the first end, 57-54 over Italy. Then both team had a 52-point end. In the third end both teams raised their level. The Italians shot 10-10-10-9-9-8 for 56 points, while the Americans had 10-10-10-9-9-9 for a score of 166-162. The Italians finished with 10-9-9-9-9-8, but the Americans had X10-10-9-9-9-8. They won the match 221-216.   For the bronze final Italy shot superbly in the first two ends with 10-10-10-9-9-10 and 9-10-9-10-9-10, while Korea had 9-9-9-10-9-9 and 9-9-10-7-9-9. Italy had a 7-point lead 115-108! However the Italians could not keep it put. They shot 9-10-9-9-9-7 in the third end, while the Koreans had 10-10-9-10-9-10. They closed the gap at 166-168. The Koreans finished with 10-9-8-9-9-9 for 54 more points. Italy did 9-8-8-9-8-9 for 51 points. Korea pulled a come-back victory 220-219!  Recurve Women Two of the best teams from qualifications didn’t make it past the 1/8 elimination round. The Chinese Taipei (No 3) trailed Spain (No 14) 104-108, 161-163 and lost 214-215. The No 4 Germany led Mongolia (No 13) after two ends, but the match ended in a draw at 203-203. The archers from Mongolia performed better in the shoot-off (28-27) to win the match. Another close match was that between Italy and the USA. These teams were tied at 110-110 halfway through. Italy build a good advantage in the third end (166-162) and won 218-217. The archers from India suffered in the first end of their match against the No 11 Georgia, trailing 50-53. However they recovered from their weak start to win 220-201. The same happened in the match featuring Great Britain and Russia. The British archers led 50-48 after the first end but lost too many points in the second to trail 97-99, 150-156 and lose the match 206-210. Finally, the teams from Korea and China both shot 226 points to qualify over Canada and Indonesia, respectively.   The quarterfinal between Korea and Italy was the most interesting. Korea trailed 54-58 after the first end. However a bad second end by Italy (9-9-9-10-8-5) and a great performance by the Koreans (10-10-10-10-9-9) inverted the score. Korea was now leading 112-108. For both teams the first five scores of the third end were 10-9-10-9-8. Italy then lost four more points when their last archer shot a 6 to Korea’s 10. Korea led 168-160 before the last six arrows. The match ended with unusually low scores from the Koreans (7-9-8-9-8-10). The Italians were unable to take advantage on it (8-10-6-9-9-10) and lost the match 211-219. Meanwhile China defeated the Russian Federation by 20 points (226-206). India beat Spain with an even higher margin of 36 points (218-182). Mongolia qualified over France (51-50, 155-150, 203-200).   In the first semifinal, Korea had the best start to lead Mongolia 56-53, 109-105. The No 13 team then made a great recovery with 10-9-9-9-9-9 (to Korea’s 10-9-9-9-8-7) and was trailing the current world champion team by only one point (160-161) before the last six arrows. Korea’s first five scores were 8-8-10-9-8 while the Mongolian archers shot 7-9-7-10-10. It all came down to the last arrow. The last Korean archer who clinched the match with a 10. The final score was 214-208.   In the other semifinal, India and the No 2 China were tied at 54-54 after the first end. The archers from India gave in a better performance in the second end (10-9-9-9-8-8) to 10-9-9-8-8-7 to take the lead 107-105. They increased their lead further with scores of 10-9-9-8-8-7, while the Chinese archers scored only 9-8-8-8-8-7. India led 158-153. Both teams raised up their level with three 10s. The match concluded with good scores from India (9-9-9) and very bad ones from China (9-8-6). Victory 215-206 for India, who will shoot against Korea for the gold medal.   The bronze medal match saw China compete against their neighbours Mongolia. The Chinese archers built a 9-point lead in the very first end, scoring 10-10-10-9-9-8 against Mongolia’s 9-9-8-7-7-7 (56-47). China solidified their lead throughout the match to clinch the bronze, 222-200.  Compound Men Because of the low number of teams, only two quarterfinals were played. Australia hit only 6 of their 24 arrows, but it was enough to defeat France 6-2 (2-0, 0-2, 2-0, 2-0). El Salvador beat New Zealand with the same score of 6-2, but with many more hits (2-3, 4-3, 4-3, 3-2). The USA and Canada had a bye into semifinals.   The US team lost their first set to Australia (4-6) but came back strongly (5-4) to tie at 2-2. They shot a perfect set while the Australians had just one miss, only a millimetre out of the gold. The US team took the lead 4-2. In the set that followed, both teams started with five perfect arrows. The last archer from Australia missed the gold and the last US archer didn’t falter. With a hit he qualified his team for the gold medal final.   In the other semifinal, Canada opened with a perfect first set against El Salvador to lead 2-0 (6-4). The Salvadorians led by 2007 World Cup champion Jorge JIMENEZ came back in the second set (4-3) for a tie at 2-2. Each team then hit five arrows, moving the score to 3-3. The Canadians hit their six shots in the final set to beat El Salvador’s five hits. Victory 5-3 for Canada, who will fight for gold against the USA tomorrow.   The bronze medal final between Australia and El Salvador started with ties at 1-1 (4-4) and 2-2 (5-5). The Salvadorians made the difference in the third set (4 hits to 2) to lead 4-2. They comforted their lead in the fourth set (5-4) to lead 6-2. It was the last moment for Australia to react, and with 5 hits to 4, they reduced their disadvantage by two set points. El Salvador led 6-4 before the final set. Alas for Australia, they missed twice, allowing El Salvador to win the set (5-4), the match (7-5) and the bronze medal.  Compound Women Only four full teams competed in this category: the USA, New Zealand, Australia and Canada. The USA defeated New Zealand easily, 6-0 (4-2, 5-3, 5-3). The match between Australia and Canada was much tighter, starting with a tie 1-1 (3-3). Australia took the lead 3-1 (3-2), only to lose the third set (0-3) and tie again, 3-3 set points each. The last set saw both teams hit three of their first five arrows. The last Canadian shot in the gold while the last Australian just missed it. As on the men’s side, the gold medal final will be between Canada and the USA!   Australia and New Zealand fought it out for the bronze medal. New Zealand recovered fast from the loss of the first set (3-5) to tie at 2-2 (4-2) and take the lead 4-2 (4-3), then 6-2 (3-1). The Australian women found themselves in the same situation as their men counterpart a few minutes earlier. They shot a perfect fifth set (6-4) to come back 4-6, before winning the sixth set (4-2) to tie at 6-6. In the shoot-off, the first Australian archer was the only one of the six archers to hit an arrow, giving victory and the bronze medal to Australia.   The team gold medal finals will take place Saturday in Ogden’s Lindquist Field at the foot of the Rocky Mountains.   Vanahé ANTILLE / Didier MIEVILLE World Archery Communication