Raining world records!

 
  The afternoon session started with tropical rain. It finished with thunderstorms and in fact the competition had to be stopped for a while with two ends to go. In the middle of the session there was actually some blue sky and sun. What is for sure is that IM Dong-Hyun, and others, shot at their best the whole time. IM set the new world record for 72 arrows at 70 metres at 691, surpassing the 687 mark he had set during the qualifications of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.   Recurve Men IM is the 2007 individual world champion, double team gold Olympic medallist and has won numerous other titles. At only 24 years, he should be considered as the Roger FEDERER of archery! IM’s 691 was 7 points better than Jayanta TALUKDAR’s 684. The Indian athlete is certainly hitting form on time for the upcoming Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. Current world champion LEE Chang-Hwan (KOR) achieved 683 and teammate OH Jin-Hyek shot 678 to complete the team world record of 2043 points. The 2004 Olympic Champion and 2009 World Cup Final winner Marco GALIAZZO (ITA) had 677, Jake KAMINSKI (USA), 676, and Crispin DUENAS (CAN), 675.   In terms of the eliminations matches tomorrow and the race for the World Cup Final qualifications, one should look at the match bracket per quarter. In recurve men, any archer who “wins” his quarter to reach the semifinals in Shanghai will have a chance to qualify to Edinburgh in the overall world cup ranking. So here are the recurve men to watch per quarter:   Quarter 1: IM, XING Yu (CHN), KIM Woojin (KOR), Jean-Charles VALLADONT (FRA), Victor WUNDERLE (USA) Quarter 2: GALIAZZO, Cheng Chu Sian (MAS), Romain GIROUILLE (FRA), OH Quarter 3: LEE, Shanghai stage winner last year CHEN Wenyuan (CHN), Michele FRANGILLI (ITA), Sebastien FLUTE (FRA), Mangal Singh CHAMPIA (IND), KAMINSKI Quarter 4: DUENAS, Simon TERRY (GBR), Viktor RUBAN (UKR), Brady ELLISON (USA), Baljinima TSYREMPILOV (RUS), Jayanta TALUKDAR (IND)   Compound Women Albina LOGINOVA (RUS) had the highest score on the compound women’s side with 698. She was just three points off the world record of Jamie VAN NATTA (USA). Another American, Erika ANSCHUTZ had 693, while European champion Viktoria BALZHANOVA (RUS) scored 690.   The top 7 in the World Cup ranking will to go the final in Edinburgh. Currently, the top 7 in this category have a good lead on any pursuer. It is composed of Ashley WALLACE (CAN), Nicky HUNT (GBR), ANSCHUTZ, Sandrine VANDIONANT (FRA), LOGINOVA, VAN NATTA and Irina MARKOVIC (NED). Their only threats come from two athletes: BALZHANOVA and Camilla SOEMOD (DEN). Unfortunately for them, these two are set to meet in the 1/8 elimination round. Then the winner still would have to beat the likes of HUNT, VAN NATTA, VANDIONANT or ANSCHUTZ.   Recurve Men Team Korea had 2043 points for the world record, improving on the 2039 mark they set in Antalya 2008. India had 2030 and Italy 2012.  Compound Women Team Together with the ANSCHUTZ’s 693, VAN NATTA shot 689 and Diane WATSON achieved 686. Together that made 2068 points for a world record, surpassing the 2044 set by France in 2008. Russia would have also broken the world record with 2065 as would have Great Britain with 2059.   Recurve Mixed Team Korea had 1364 ahead of the USA, 1333, and India, 1329.   Compound Mixed Team Russia and USA had 1396, while Iran achieved 1388.   Individual eliminations will take place tomorrow! More drama in the making!   Didier MIEVILLE World Archery Communication