Spain and France win bronze in mixed team

  RecurveIn the first round Team USA with Brady ELLISON and Khatuna LORIG (No. 6 seed) faced the Olympic champion Viktor RUBAN paired with Olena KUSHNIRUK (UKR/11). The teams were tied after the first two ends (35-35 and 71-71). KUSHNIRUK scored a low 6 at the eleventh arrow and her team trailed by two points (104-106) with one end to go. Despite an 8 by ELLISON in the last end, the Americans managed to keep the lead by one for a victory 141-140. The first round of elimination was fatal to two top seeded teams, India (4) and Russia (5). The Indians Jayanta TALUKDAR and Deepika KUMARI lost 132-141 to the Polish teams Piotr PATEK and Justyna MOSPINEK (13). The Russians Alexey BELOV and Inna STEPANOVA conceded defeat 137-140 against Mongolia's Jantsan GANTUGS and Bishindee URANTUNGALAG.   The quarterfinals gave rise to two tense matches ending on a tie at 145-145 and going to a shoot-off. The top seeded team Korea, with OH Jing Hyek and JUNG Dasomi, had to fight very hard to advance. Against Team France (Romain GIROUILLE/Celine BEZAULT/8), the favourite Koreans scored two 10s in the shoot-off, as did their opponents… The arrows thus had to be measured and it was Korea eventually advancing for a few centimetres. Team GBR (Laurence GODREY/Naomi FOLKARD/2) was tied also in a quarterfinal against Spain (Andres GOMES/Gema BUITRON/10). In the tie-break the Britons scored 17 points and conceded defeat after the Spaniards shot 18 points. Poland beat Mongolia 138-135 and USA defeated Italy 143-141 to advance to the semifinals as well.   Despite being the favourites of their match against Poland (13), the Koreans (1) had a more difficult time than expected. They led by one point after the first end (36-35), but they scored a 6 in the second end, which gave a 1-point advantage to the Poles (70-69) at the half-way mark. The teams were tied after twelve arrows at 107-107. In the last end success chose its side as a 9 by Korea was just in and an 8 by Poland was just out to offer victory to OH and JUNG, 144-143. Taking a 3-point advantage after four arrows over Spain in the second semifinal, Team USA remained in the lead for the whole match to clinch a win by 141-138 and shoot for gold on Saturday against Korea.   Probably very disappointed after the short defeat to Korea in the previous round, the Polish pair stayed in the bronze medal match against Spain only in the first end (35-36). With a 6 and a 7 in the second, PATEK and MOSPINEK were three points behind at the half-way mark (69-72). Another 6 in the third end and mass was said for them (97-109). The Spaniards Andres GOMES/Gema BUITRON clinched an easy victory for bronze 145-134.   CompoundThe top 6 teams all made it to the second round, but two had a hard time. Team USA, with the two top ranked archers in individual Reo WILDE and Christie COLIN paired together, finished their match against the Austrians Michael MATZNER and Silvia BARCKHOLT on a tie at 144-144. However the American favourites regained their self-control to shoot two perfect 10s in the shoot-off and clinched victory. The No. 6 team Italy, with World Cup title defender Sergio PAGNI and Marcella TONIOLI, had to fight hard and score the highest mark of the round to get over Paul TITSCHER and Patricia SAUTER from Germany: 152-151.   The upset in quarterfinal came from the No. 10 Slovenia (Toja CERNE/Slavko TURSIC) kicking off the No. 2 team Belgium (Michael CAUWE/Gladys WILLEMS) on the score of 147-144. In the match between the No. 5 Iran (Amir KAZEMPOOR/Parsamehr MAHTAB) and the No. 4 Russia (Alexander DAMBAEV/Albina LOGINOVA), the team of the women's reigning world champion LOGINOVA had the last word by 155-152. The Russians tied their own world record set at the European Grand Prix in Antalya two weeks ago. The two other teams advancing to the semifinals were USA (1) and France (3).   After defeated the No. 2 seeded team in the previous round, Slovenia had the difficult task to shoot against France, No. 3. The pair CERNE/TURSIC took a 3-point lead after the first end (37-34), taking advantage of a 7 by the Frenchwoman Joanna CHESSE at the fourth arrow. Scoring a perfect second end, the Slovenians increased their lead to 77-69 at the half-way mark. The gap was dug and it was impossible for the team GENET/CHESSE to recover (145-153). The second semifinal featured the top seeded team USA against Russia (4). The match was tight, the Americans WILDE/COLIN taking a 1-point (38-37) and then 2-point (73-71, 112-110) lead with one end to go. The four 9s shot by DAMBAEV/LOGINOVA were not enough to recover and Russia let victory to USA (146-150).   The No. 3 and 4 teams, France and Russia, faced each other for the bronze medal of the compound mixed team event. After four arrows, the match was tied at 38-38 between GENET/CHESSE and DAMBAEV/LOGINOVA. With a 39-point second end, the Russians took the lead 77-75 at the half-way mark. A 7 by LOGINOVA at the tenth arrow gave a chance to the French pair to recover and take the lead at 112-111. In the last end, the Russians scored three 9s and an X10 to tie the match at 148-148. In the shoot-off, GENET and CHESSE put themselves together to release an X10 and a 10 and clinch bronze (DAMBAEV/LOGINOVA with 9-9).   The competition will continue on Friday 6 May with team eliminations up to bronze medal matches.   Stayed tuned at www.worldarchery.org!   World Archery Communication