Recurve qualifications are on their way in Antalya

    
Recurve Men shot 144 arrows split into 4x36 arrows at 90, 70, 50 and 30 metres respectively while Recurve Women shot the same sets of arrows at 70, 60, 50 and 30 metres respectively.
 
Korea proved untouchable with their archers finishing first in all the individual and team categories. The best athletes of the day were KIM Woojin and KI Bo Bae, who held the top place the whole day in both men’s and women’s category. Overall the level of shooting was extremely high with 48 men and 45 women reaching the 1300-point barrier.
    
  Recurve Men  After the first distance of 90 metres the 2010 Asian champion KIM Woojin (KOR) led the recurve men's qualification with 333 points. He placed ahead of a young French duo, Romain GIROUILLE (329) and Gaël PREVOST (326). OH Jin-Hyek (photo) followed in 4th place also with 326 points. In 5th place was DAI Xiaoxiang (CHN). The favourites IM Dong-Hyun (KOR) and Brady ELLISON (USA) were respectively 7th and 14th at this stage.
 
Two Koreans occupied the top 2 spots after the first two distances. KIM topped the qualifications again at the second distance, scoring 347 at 70m. His total of 680 gave him a comfortable lead over compatriot OH Jin-Hyek at the halfway mark. GIROUILLE and PREVOST dropped from 2nd and 3rd to 4th and 5th, respectively, because of great performances by OH Jin-Hyek (345) and DAI Xiaoxiang (343), now 2nd and 3rd. ELLISON and IM tied for 7th place at 655 points.
 
The top 3 remained the same after the third distance (50m). With 343 points, KIM Woojin was once more the best. He collected a total of 1023, equivalent to a comfortable lead of 13 points. OH and DAI also managed to break the 1000-point barrier, at 1010 and 1002. Behind them the battle was tight. Laurence GODFREY (GBR), previously 6th, made his way to 4th place (994). GIROUILLE followed in 5th with the same score. Three archers were tied at 992; Pedro VIVAS ALCALA from Mexico (6th), ELLISON and PREVOST (both in 7th). The 2008 Olympic champion Viktor RUBAN (UKR) was 9th (990).
 
At the end of the day Korea ranked their three competitors in the top 5. KIM Woojin was unquestionably the best, finishing in 1st place in three of the four distances. With his total of 1381 points, he stood above the rest of the field by 19 points. The second best performance (1362) was OH’s. DAI followed closely in 3rd (1361). The rest of the field were more than 10 points behind. ELLISON was 4th (1349) and IM 5th (1348) ahead of VIVAS ALCALA (1346). The Frenchmen GIROUILLE and PREVOST went on shooting consistently to end up in 7th and 8th (both with 1346 points). The latter caught the last qualifying spot to the 1/16 matches. According to the new rules the top 8 archers from qualifications are exempt from shooting the first two elimination rounds.
 
Recurve Women On the women's side, the first distance of 70m showed an interesting diversity with archers from six different countries in the top 6. As in the men’s category, the lead was in the hands of a Korean after the first distance. With 340 points, KI Bo Bae  (photo) was 5 points ahead of her Chinese follower FANG Yuting. The three-time Olympian Khatuna LORIG (USA) was in 3rd place with 334 points. Naomi FOLKARD (GBR), Natalia VALEEVA (ITA) and the Commonwealth champion Deepika KUMARI (IND) completed the top 5. JUNG Dasomi (KOR), 3rd at the last World Cup stage in Porec, was in 7th with an intermediate score of 329. The champion from Porec HAN Gyeonghee (KOR) attained a bad score of 320 for 32nd place.
 
KI Bo Bae further increased her lead to 16 points after shooting the best total of the second distance with 347 points. Her teammate JUNG Dasomi scored the second-highest total at 60m, which allowed her to come back from 7th place to 2nd. Khatuna LORIG was steady in 3rd place, while the young Deepika KUMARI climbed one rank from 5th to 4th. FANG Yuting dropped back three ranks after scoring 334 at 60m. The competition was very tight behind KI, as the archers ranked 2-5 stood within 2 points of each other. HAN shot a good total of 340 to come back from 32nd to 13th place.
 
KI Bo Bae was still well in front after 50m (1018) despite scoring only the 7th total on that distance (331). Khatuna LORIG managed to overtake JUNG Dasomi for 2nd place (1007 against 1006). HAN, who was previously 13th, shot the highest total (339) to move to 4th place. She shared her total of 999 with Deepika KUMARI at 5th.
  
After the four distances, KI scored a total of 1372 ahead of her teammates JUNG (1360) and HAN (1356) for a total Korean sweep in this category! As in the men’s division, one athlete monopolised the lead from the start of the competition. The 4th and 5th spots went to KUMARI (1354) and LORIG (1353). The next three archers were VALEEVA (1350), Justyna MOSPINEK (1347) and FANG (1345). All of them advanced to the 1/16 elimination round.        
  Recurve Men Team   Unsurprisingly Korea led the men’s team qualification with 978 points after the first distance. France followed closely with 973. In 3rd place was Mexico, a long way behind with 951 points.
 
After two distances out of four, Korea had 2006 points to lead France (1961) by 45 points. Mexico and China were close with 1955 and 1951, respectively, for 3rd and 4th place.
 
The ranking of the top 4 didn’t change after the third distance was shot. Korea now held a 63-point advantage over the French team.
 
The Koreans ended the day at 4091 points. Mexico edged France 4015-4013 for 2nd place. China finished 4th (4006) ahead of the USA (5th/3999) and the Ukraine (6th/3977). The last qualifying spot (16th) to the elimination rounds went to Germany. Placing only 17th, the usually strong team from Russia missed the cut.
 
Recurve Women Team
The women’s competition followed a similar pattern. Korea took the lead after the first distance at 989, only 5 points ahead of China (984) and 10 ahead of India (979). Ukraine and Russia were very close with 977 and 976 points, respectively, for 4th and 5th place. The USA and Great Britain were 6th and 7th, both at 971.
 
The Korean team easily increased their lead to more than 20 points after two distances (total 2018). China and India were close to each other at 1994 and 1992. Russia (1971) and the USA completed the top 5 (1970).
 
The Koreans still led after 50m, ahead of China and India. Italy, previously in 10th place, made a strong comeback to 4th, while Russia dropped to 8th.
 
The untouchable Koreans (4088) finished more than 80 points ahead of their runners-up India who came up one rank to 2nd place (4005). China ended up in 3rd (3999). The last qualified country (16th) was Georgia (3860).
 
Recurve Mixed Team
In the mixed team qualification, the Korean pair of KI Bo Bae and KIM Woojin took the lead after the first distance (of course!) as both were leaders in the individual qualifications. Their total of 673 gave them a 16-point advantage over the next best pair, China (DAI Xiaoxiang/FANG Yuting). Great Britain’s Naomi FOLKARD/Laurence GODFREY were in 3rd with the same total (651) as Americans Khatuna LORIG/Brady ELLISON, provisionally placed in 4th place.
 
At the halfway mark the Korean pair doubled their lead to 33 points (1367). Runner-up China (1334) was more than 10 points ahead of the USA (1325). Great Britain lost two ranks to place in 5th, 5 points behind the pair ranked 4th, India.
 
No one could come close to the Koreans, who led on 2041 points after three distances. The Chinese pair maintained their runner-up status, while the USA equalled China (1999) to overtake Great Britain for 3rd place.
 
The last distance didn’t bring any changes in the top 3, with Korea (2753), China (2706) and the USA (2702) finishing 1st, 2nd and 3rd. The pair from India consisting of Deepika KUMARI and Jayanta TALUKDAR took the 4th and last qualifying spot in this category.
 
8 June, the second day of competition, will feature the qualifications of the compound division in the new form of the Compound 50-metre Round, followed by individual eliminations matches in compound and recurve.
   
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