The USA Win Triple Team Gold in Antalya

 
The USA won the three gold medals at stake in the compound category. In recurve, the French men’s team won its first gold medal. Korea was the best in the women’s competition while China won the mixed team event.    Compound Mixed Team  Gold Medal – USA v Italy Italy could count on the double winner of the World Cup Final (2009+2010) Sergio PAGNI. On the US side, Braden GELLENTHIEN is one of the best archers of the last few years, and Christie COLIN won the mixed team gold last month in Porec (coupled with Reo WILDE).   In this match, the men started with two 10s each. The scores of the women made the difference: Laura LONGO shot 9-9 and COLIN 8-8. Italy led 38-36. In the second end the men shot perfect scores again. COLIN outscored LONGO 9-10 to 9-9. Italy still led by one point, 76-75. The USA were perfect in the third end with a total of 40. Italy shot 36 to trail 112-115. Shooting first, Italy finished with a perfect 40. The US needed 37 points to win, and didn’t fail: 10-10-10-10! Gold medal for Christie COLIN and Braden GELLENTHIEN.   Thomas AUBERT: The USA started with lower scores than the Italians. The US pair then shot eleven 10s in a row – Braden GELLENTHIEN didn’t shoot out of the 10 ring in the whole match – and took the victory by 3 points.   Compound Women   Bronze Medal – France v Venezuela These countries had met in the quarterfinals here in 2007. France had won 219-218. The French archers recently won the Porec World Cup. Venezuela had a serious asset with the 2009 World Cup Final winner Luzmary GUEDEZ.   Venezuela had a better start in this match with one arrow just on the line. They took the lead 54-53. Both teams repeated their total in the second end, moving the score to 108-106 for Venezuela. France increased their level with arrows at 9-10-10-9-10-9, but their opponents matched this total with 10-10-10-10-8-9. The French team then shot 54 points. Olga BOSCH, Luzmary GUEDEZ and Ana MENDOZA started their last end with a 9 followed by five 10s, to win the match 224-217 and the bronze, their first World Cup team medal!   Thomas AUBERT: Venezuela took the lead on the first three arrows and kept it through the end. They had a strong finish with only two arrows out of the gold, whereas France was shooting more in the 9 ring.  Gold Medal – USA v Iran The members of the US team are experienced and won a lot of medals at last year’s World Cup, placing 2nd in Porec and 1st in Ogden and Shanghai. The two teams have already met three times. Last year Iran defeated the US in the semifinals (5-4) at the Antalya World Cup. The USA took a double revenge, winning 224-218 at the Shanghai World Cup, and beating Iran 7-1 for the gold medal in September at the World University Championships.   The USA started their match with 56 points, but the Iranians shot a little better (57). The Americans recovered the lead thanks to a perfect second end, 10-10-10-10-10-10. Iran shot 9-9-10-10-10-9 and trailed by 2 points, 114-116. They shot a bad 7 in the third end. The USA took this opportunity to extend their lead to 3 points, 171-168. Shooting first, the Iranian women didn’t reach the 10 ring (9-9-9-9-8-9). The Americans replied with their second perfect end of the match: 10-10-10-10-10-10. Gold medal for Christie COLIN, Kailey JOHNSTON and Jamie VAN NATTA!   Thomas AUBERT: The weather conditions were getting better, which allowed the athletes to shoot with more precision and consistency.     Compound Men   Bronze Medal – Italy v South Africa The team from South Africa was the defending team champion from last year. In late 2010 they won a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games. As for the Italians, they were bronze medallists at last year’s European Championships. They had won the team event in Porec and Antalya in 2008.   In their first encounter, both teams shot a great first end, tying at 59-59. South Africa shot first in the second end, 9-10-10-10-9-10, with one arrow just on the 10 line. Italy maitained the pressure and matched this total with 9-9-10-10-10-10. Tie 117-117 at the halfway mark. In the third end, Italy shot two more 10s than their opponents to take the lead 175-173. South Africa shot 9-9-10-10-10-10 (two arrows on the 10 line, one just out). Italy needed 57 to win. They shot 10-10-10-10-9-9 for a total of 58. Remarkably, the last 9 was Sergio PAGNI’s only arrow out of the 10 ring in this match. Victory 233-231 and bronze medal for Pietro GRECO, Sergio PAGNI and Antonio POMPEO.   Thomas AUBERT: This match was the tightest of the day so far. The Italians made the difference in the third end only.  Gold Medal – USA v Denmark The Americans Braden GELLENTHIEN, Reo WILDE and Rodger WILLETT Jr. won the 2007 World Championships team event together. The USA were also world champions in Ulsan in 2009. The Danish team’s best achievement was the gold medal here in Antalya at the 2006 World Cup.   These teams know each other well as they already met twice for a team gold medal, at the Porec World Cup these last two years. In 2010 the teams tied at 229-229 and the USA won in shoot-off. This year the USA won more easily, 233-229.   In this match, the Americans took the lead from the start, 58-57. Martin DAMSBO, Torben JOHANNESSEN and Patrick LAURSEN shot more 9s in the second end, allowing the US to increase their advantage (117-114). The weather conditions worsened as the archers entered the second half of the match. Denmark outscored the USA 9-10-10-10-10-9 to 9-10-10-10-9-8 in the third end to recover two points (172-173). The Danes concluded with 58 points, just 1 second before the time limit. The US matched this score to win the gold medal, 231-230.   Thomas AUBERT: Storm and rain started during this match, but didn’t affect the archers very much. Both teams shot very well ending in a short victory for the USA.   Recurve Mixed Team   Gold Medal – India v China Under heavy rain, Deepika KUMARI/Jayanta TALUKDAR shot 7-6-8-8. DAI Xiaoxiang/FANG Yuting were slightly superior with 7-8-6-9 and took the lead 30-29. Both teams upped their shooting in the second end. China scored 34 against India’s 33 to lead by 2 points halfway through, 64-62. Archers kept improving their level, with scores of 36 and 35, respectively. Both pairs shot 36 points in the final end, and China took the match and the gold medal 136-133.   Thomas AUBERT: We had all kinds of weather during this match. The rain was disturbing during the first end, and the arrows from both teams were grouped on the right side of the target.   Recurve Women   Bronze Medal – Ukraine v India The Ukrainian team (Victoriya KOVAL, Nina MYLCHENKO, Lidiia SICHENIKOVA) was the winner in Porec 2010. The team from India was 3rd here two years ago. These teams already shot against each other for a World Cup bronze at the Porec World Cup 2009. Ukraine won 212-197. Last year the teams met again in Antalya, that time India won 204-202.   Both teams shot two 7s in the first end but India had more 10s and took the lead 52-48. The Ukrainians had another weak end, scoring 8-8-9-8-8-6. India had a better group with 10-8-7-8-9-7. India led by 6 points, 101-95. Both teams maintained their previous level, Ukraine with 48 points, India 51, for a 9-point lead. In the last 6 arrows, the Ukrainians increased their score to 54 (10-8-9-8-10-9), but the archers from India were too far ahead. With 9-9-7-10-9-10, Laishram Bombayla DEVI, Deepika KUMARI and Chekrovolu SWURO held their lead at 9 points (206-197) and won the bronze medal.   Thomas AUBERT: India was stronger than Ukraine, leading through the whole match.  Gold Medal – Korea v USA These two teams have met several times at the highest level, and Korea has won every time. Their last encounter was at World Cup Stage 1 in Porec last month where Korea defeated the USA in the 1/8 elimination round, 219-211. Korea is the reigning world champion and was champion of the last three stages of the World Cup (Ogden and Shanghai 2010, Porec 2011). The USA were 3rd in Antalya last year.   This gold medal final started under heavy rain which explains the low scores of the first end: 8-10-9-7-7-7 by Korea and 8-5-8-10-8-9 by the USA. Tie 48-48. Korea took a very significant lead after the second end, thanks to good shooting and to two bad arrows (5 and 6) by the USA. The world champions led 102-94, and gained 2 more points in the third end. The rain became incredibly strong as the archers shot their final end. The Americans shot 8-8-7-7-6-8, while Korea finished superbly given the bad conditions: 7-7-10-8-10-9. Victory 207-190 and gold medal for HAN Gyeonghee, JUNG Dasomi and KI Bo Bae.   Thomas AUBERT: We must congratulate both teams for shooting in such bad weather conditions. The Koreans remained the strongest, shooting more than 50% of their arrows in the gold.    Recurve Men   Bronze Medal – USA v Great Britain The US team was champion in Porec 2011 after placing 2nd in Antalya and 1st in Ogden last year. The British team won a silver medal here in Antalya in 2006 and their best achievement in the World Cup was a victory at Stage 1 in Varese in 2007.   The Britons Laurence GODFREY, Simon TERRY and WILLS had an easier time shooting in the rain, with scores of 9-10-9-10-10-9, against 8-9-8-8-9-8 to the US. Great Britain led 57-54. The rain stopped, allowing the Americans to recover 4 points in the second end, 107-110. The US gained more ground in the third end, shooting 9-8-10-10-9-10 against 10-9-10-8-9-8. The gap was now of only one point for Great Britain. The USA recovered the lead after three arrows in the last end: they shot 10-9-9 and the Britons 9-8-8. The last three arrows of the Americans were 9-9-9. Their opponents didn’t capitalize on it, shooting 10-8-8. Victory and bronze medal 218-215 for Brady ELLISON, Joe FANCHIN and Jacob WUKIE.   Thomas AUBERT: After a bad start, the United States succeeded in putting pressure on Great Britain, shooting almost exclusively 9s and 10s.  Gold Medal – Japan v France This gold medal final featured the bronze and silver medallists from the last World Championships. These teams met last September at the Shanghai World Cup, where Japan won their 1/8 elimination match 221-215. However, France won their most recent encounter, the semifinal of the Asian Grand Prix in February this year, on the score of 222-218. In Antalya, the Japanese team had already won bronze in 2010 and gold in 2006. France had been on a World Cup podium twice: bronze in 2007 in Ulsan, silver in 2009 in Shanghai. Would 2011 be the year for gold?   The match started with very similar scores from both teams. Japan shot 9-7-10-8-8-10, while France had 9-7-10-8-10-9, their third arrow being just on the line. In the second end, all arrows landed in the gold except for one 6 by Japan and one 6 on the French side. France increased their lead to 108-104. The Japanese had a good start to their third end but missed their last two arrows (9-9-10-10-7-7). The French didn’t do better with 10-10-8-8-8-8. They led 160-156 before the last six arrows. Japan shot a total of 55. France started with 9-10-8. Jean-Charles VALLADONT, Gaël PREVOST and Romain GIROUILLE didn’t seem to feel the pressure on their last three arrows and shot 10-10-10. Victory 217-211 and first gold medal for the young French trio!   Thomas AUBERT: The French men had a very good competition and remained strong during the final, taking advantage from Japan’s mistakes and shooting a lot of 10s.   This concludes the second stage of Archery World Cup 2011. See you in Ogden in August at the stage 3!    World Archery Communication