WILLET, JIMENEZ, ANSCHUTZ and BALZHANOVA to shoot for gold in compound

  Compound MenAfter beating Liam GRIMWOOD (GBR/33) in 1/48, the 18-year-old Dane Claus FRANTZEN, No. 80 qualifier, faced Christophe DOUSSOT (FRA/32) in 1/24. Taking advantage of several 9s on the right by his opponent, FRANTZEN took the lead 58-57 and 87-84 after the second and thirds ends. In the fourth end, both archers scored 29 points to keep the difference at three points (115-112). DOUSSOT improved with his last three arrows, scoring 9-10-10. FRANTZEN opened the last end with a 9 liner and two 8s... The score was tied at 141-141! In the shoot-off the two men released a 9, but that of the Frenchman was a bit closer to the centre allowing him to survive this match.   Very high scores in the compound men's 1/16 elimination matches with Rodger WILLET Jr. (USA/16) shooting 149 out of a possible 150 against Amir KAZEMPOOR (IRI/17). His teammate and No. 1 qualifier Reo WILDE shot 148 points against FRANTZEN. The young Dane maintained high level shooting up to the middle of the match. However, after shooting a bull's eye (arrow hitting the very middle of the target) at his seventh arrow, FRANTZEN had two 8s that made him lose all hopes against the American favourite. WILDE eventually clinched an easy victory 148-142. This promises a great fight in 1/8 elimination, since WILDE and WILLET will face each other! On the Independence Day in Mexico, Gerardo ALVARADO (46) gave his country another reason to cheer. Facing the No. 14 Pierre Julien DELOCHE (FRA), he clinched victory 146-145 to advance to the 1/8 round.   The promising match between the two Americans was cut short after the No. 1 WILDE suffered a very bad second end with 9-9-7 to trail by seven points (81-88). Though he scored only 9s and 10s in the last two ends, it was not enough to recover, and WILLET took victory 146-139. Patrick LAURSEN (7) and Martin DAMSBO (10) faced each other in an all-Danish match. The two athletes were tied at 55-55 and later again at 111-111. In the final end they both scored an 8 at their last but one arrow, but DAMSBO managed two X10 (against two 9s for LAURSEN) to stay alive in the competition (139-137).  In quarterfinal Roberto HERNANDEZ (ESA/4) trailed by one point all the way to the fourth end against Majid GHEYDI (IRI/28): 28-29, 55-56, 84-85 and 112-113. In the final end the archer from El Salvador scored three perfect arrows (10-X10-10) to recover and win the match as the Iranian shot three 9s (142-140). The German Paul TITSCHER (34) was in the lead after two ends (58-57) against the Dane DAMSBO. The latter reversed the score in the third end (86-84), taking advantage of an 8 by his opponent. DAMSBO kept a 2-point advantage after the fourth end (115-113). With a perfect last end of 30 points he did not leave any chances to TITSCHER to come back and clinched victory 145-141. The two other athletes qualified for the semifinals were the American WILLET with a win 146-140 over Michael CAUWE (BEL/8) and Jorge JIMENEZ (ESA/11) who beat Dejan SITAR (SLO/35) by 144-140.   In the semifinals WILLET could hope for a world record with only one end to go, as he shot perfectly in the first four ends (30/60/90/120). With an 8 to open the last end the American let the record go but not the right to shoot for gold on Saturday in downtown Porec. He clinched victory over HERNANDEZ by 147-141. In the second semifinal another archer from El Salvador JIMENEZ, 2007 World Cup Final winner, had a hard time against the Dane DAMSBO. He trailed from the first to the third end, but managed a perfect fourth series of three arrows to recover and even take the lead at 113-112. As the two archers scored 10 and 9 to open the final end and JIMENEZ finished with a 9, DAMSBO could have tied with a final 10. But he released a 9 also to lose the match 140-141.   Compound WomenThe Athlete of the Week Danielle BROWN (GBR), No. 15 seed in Porec, faced Masoumrh ALIPOUR (IRI/50) in 1/24 elimination. The British para-archer scored a 7 at her third arrow and trailed 26-28 after the first end. She recovered one point with the three following arrows (9-9-X10 v 9-8-10) to come close at 54-55. Shooting a 29-point third end (X10-10-9), BROWN tied up the match at 83-83. The two ladies scored 28 points each in the fourth end to keep the tie at 111-111. While the Iranian shot another 28 points, the Briton had two 9s and a liner 10 at her last but one arrow that gave her the win (140-139).   Reigning world champion and World Cup winner, Albina LOGINOVA (RUS/5) had a difficult start against Isabell DANIELSSON (SWE/28) in her first round—seeded No. 5 the Russian was exempt from the first two round and started elimination in 1/16. She was tied with her opponent at 86-86 with two ends to go. But experience finally spoke for LOGINOVA who shot two ends of 29 points to win 144-141. Erika ANSCHUTZ (USA/4) was given a hard time by Natalia AVDEEVA (RUS/29) in 1/16. The Russian managed to stay close at one point all the way through the first three ends (29-30, 58-59, 87-88). However, with an 8 in the fourth end and a 7 in the fifth, she could not go the distance and lost 140-144. The No. 13 seed Andrea GALES suffered defeat against Jhano HANSDAH (IND/20) although the Briton came back from a 3-point disadvantage (81-84 and 108-111) to tie at 136-136. However, in the shoot-off, GALES's 9 was excelled by her Indian contender's10.   The 1/8 match between the 2007 and 2009 world champions, Albina LOGINOVA (RUS/5) and Eugenia SALVI (ITA/21), was cut short quickly after the first end already, as the Italian released a 5 at her second arrow! Although coming back a little in the second end with a perfect three arrows (52-56), she again seemed disturbed by the wind blowing stronger in the last two ends. Her opponent from Russia clinched a comfortable victory by 133-124. Another Russian, the No. 39 qualifier Viktoria BALZHANOVA defeated a higher rank archer in this round, Marcella TONIOLI (ITA/10), 133-131. The American ANSCHUTZ was given a hard time by the Indian HANSDAH. The two were tied 28-28 after the first end. The American took the lead 55-54 after six arrows but let it go after nine (81-82). The match was tied again at 109 each with one end two go and at 126 each with only one arrow to go. With a final 7 HANSDAH could not hope for victory as ANSCHUTZ released a final X10!  The top qualifier Christie COLIN (USA) was kicked off by her teammate Diane WATSON (8) after a tight match. The two ladies were tied at 53-53 and 80-80. COLIN took the lead by one point (110-109) thanks to a perfect fourth end. But with two 8s at her two last arrows, she conceded defeat 136-137. WATSON said after the match: "I'm very sad that I had to compete against my teammate, but I'm extremely excited about making it in the semifinals." The reigning world champion LOGINOVA faced another American, ANSCHUTZ. The Russian trailed by two points at 27-29 and 53-55 but managed to tie up after a 7 by her opponent at the ninth arrow (81-81). In the fourth end LOGINOVA shot an 8 and trailed again by one (108-109). With two 10s and a 9 to close the match she came back one more time at 137-137. As ANSCHUTZ's shoot-off arrow was a good 10, LOGINOVA's was also a 10, released with only a few second left, but just on the line further from the centre. Victory for the American! The other two semifinalists were the Italian Laura LONGO beating the Iranian Parsamehr MAHTAB and the Russian Viktoria BALZHANOVA after a win over the para-archer from Great Britain Danielle BROWN.   The all-American semifinal between WATSON and ANSCHUTZ was not as excited as promised. The reason was WATSON having a bad start with 9-7-8 in the first end and trailing 24-27 after three arrows only. The two scored 28 points in the second end to maintain the gap (52-55). ANSCHUTZ added one additional point to her advantage (82-78), but scoring a 7 at her twelveth arrow, she let her opponent recover a little to 109-107. WATSON came back to one point with only one arrow to go (126-127) but closed the match with an 8. With a final 9, ANTSCHUTZ clinched victory and will shoot for gold on Saturday. Her opponent for the title will be the Russian BALZHANOVA who quite easily took over the Italian LONGO by 142-135.   The competition will continue in the afternoon with mixed team elimination to the bronze medal matches.   Stayed tuned at www.worldarchery.org!   World Archery Communication