ELLISON will shoot for a third World Cup Stage gold this season

  Recurve Men
The elimination rounds began late on 3 August, with the 1/24 matches following the qualifications. The most exciting match of the 1/24 elimination round was between British archers Alan WILLS and Simon TERRY (GBR). The first set went to TERRY who shot 29 points (WILLS had 26) for a score of 2-0. The archers tied in the second set for a score of 3-1. TERRY won the third set to lead 5-1. However, he shot a zero in the next series, and gave WILLS the set. The score was now 5-3. WILLS could have come back if not for a zero of his own in the last set. TERRY shot 26 to take the win, 7-3.
  
Another interesting match of this round was between two more teammates: Mitch DIELEMANS and Rick VAN DEN OEVER from the Netherlands. The latter is the silver medalist from the 2010 Youth Olympic Games in Singapore. DIELEMANS took the lead after the first set (27 to 26, 2-0). The second set tied at 28-28. VAN DEN OEVER trailed 1-3 but came back in the third set with 26 points (3-3). He went on to take the lead 5-3, but DIELEMANS won the final set to tie at 5-5. In the shoot-off, VAN DEN OEVER scored a 9, while his opponent shot a 6. Victory for the young VAN DEN OEVER!
  
Other archers who qualified are Eduardo VELEZ SANCHEZ (MEX), Jay LYON (CAN), Jayanta TALUKDAR (IND), Thomas AUBERT (FRA), Marco GALIAZZO (ITA), Jake KAMINSKI (USA), Viktor RUBAN (UKR), Jean-Charles VALLADONT (FRA), Michele FRANGILLI (ITA)…
  
Pre-seeded in the 1/16 elimination round, the current World Cup leader Brady ELLISON (USA) had a very good start, defeating his opponent Rick VAN DEN OEVER (NED) in straight sets 6-0. The 2008 and 2009 World Cup finalist Romain GIROUILLE (FRA) suffered defeat in his first match today. He was beaten by VISWASH (IND), 6-4. GIROUILLE’s teammate Jean-Charles VALLADONT also suffered the same fate, defeated by the Iranian VAZIRITEYMOORLOI, seeded No. 10, in straight sets 6-0. The 2004 Olympic champion Marco GALIAZZO from Italy was also eliminated with a score of 6-0 by IVASHKO (UKR). There have been many upsets of top-ranked archers this morning, which is quite unusual at this level of play.
    
The two archers from India met in the 1/8 elimination round: TALUKDAR against VISWASH. TALUKDAR left no chance to his opponent with three near-perfect sets (30-29-28 against 26-27-28). ELLISON, defending his number one world ranking, shot his way to a narrow 6-5 victory against Luis VELEZ SANCHEZ of Mexico in a give and take battle that came down to whose 10 was closest to center in the shoot-off. What a match! The young French archer Gaël PREVOST defeated POPPENBORG (GER) 6 to 4. One of the top-seeded archers in this competition, Crispin DUENAS from Canada, was upset by Ukraine’s IVASHKO 6 to 4.
   
ELLISON faced Jayanta TALUKDAR of India in the quarterfinals, one of the favorite archers in this competition. With three quick sets, ELLISON took a decisive 6-0 victory that brought him to the semifinal match. The tightest match of this round was that of Gaël PREVOST and Michael FANCHIN (USA). The archers tied after 5 sets. In the shoot-off FANCHIN was more precise than his opponent. He outscored PREVOST 9 to 7 to advance to the semifinal against teammate ELLISON.
  
Following their victories in quarterfinals, the two Ukrainian archers HRACHOV and IVASHKO met in the first semifinal. IVASHKO proved to be more successful in the first set (29-28) to lead HRACHOV 2-0. However the latter reacted with wins in the following three sets (30-28-29) to take the match. ELLISON and FANCHIN, the two Resident Athletes from the Olympic Training Center in San Diego, California met in the other semifinal Each won a point in the first set, and each won a set after that, but ELLISON then took four points to win the match and a berth to the gold medal final, where he will meet Dmytro HRACHOV (UKR). FANCHIN will shoot for bronze against Ukraine's Markiyan IVASHKO.
       
Recurve Women
In the 1/24 elimination round, Céline BEZAULT (FRA) met Mariana AVITIA (MEX), famous for being the youngest archer to have competed at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. The French archer took the advantage very early on. AVITIA scored only one point over the whole match, in the fourth set, when both archers tied at 24 points. Céline BEZAULT won 7 to 1.
    
The match between LIONETTI (ITA) and YAROVSKA (UKR) was the tightest. The Italian archer won the individual silver medal earlier in the season at the Porec stage. Will she be able to match that performance in Ogden? The first set went to YAROVSKA, 27 to 26 (2-0). LIONETTI won the next one 24 points to 23 (2-2), but the Ukrainian shot 10-10-10 in the third end to take back the lead 4-2! She seemed less focused in the next set, shooting only 22 points. With 26, LIONETTI came back to tie it up at 4-4. The last set would decide the winner: LIONETTI wasn’t as precise as before and shot 23 points, while YAROVSKA scored a total of 24 to take the match 6-4.
  
The world champion Denisse VAN LAMOEN (CHI) also qualified for the next round.
   
The four-time Olympian Khatuna LORIG from the USA struggled a bit against Tetyana BEREZHNA (UKR). Though LORIG took a strong 4-point lead, BEREZHNA came from behind to take the match 6-4, stopping LORIG at the 1/24.
  
Team USA archers Miranda LEEK, the 18 year old sensation, and two-time Olympian Jennifer NICHOLS were pre-seeded into the 1/16 thanks to top 8 finishes in the qualification round. Miranda LEEK opened her 1/16 elimination match with a 6-0 shutout victory over 35th seed Susanne POSSNER of Germany, who could not match the young American's scores.
  
There were several interesting matches in the 1/16 elimination round shot on August 4th. The No. 2 ranked Natalia VALEEVA (ITA) met YAROVSKA (UKR) and didn’t lose any time, winning in straight sets 6-0. Bérengère SCHUH and Denisse VAN LAMOEN (CHI) staged a rematch of the World Championships semifinal. Niether of them managed to win outright after 5 sets (5-5). In the shoot-off the archer from Chile shot an 8, allowing SCHUH to take revenge with a 9! For Jennifer NICHOLS (USA), on the upswing this week after a difficult loss during the US Pan American Games Trials on Sunday, it was a 6-4 victory over Sabrina STRUYF of Belgium to begin her day.
  
In her 1/8 round match, LEEK met Alejandra VALENCIA, one of Mexico's top shooters, ranked 19th in qualifications. Though LEEK took her opponent to five sets, winning two of them, she could not edge out VALENCIA, who advanced 6-4. As for NICHOLS, the 2008 Olympian faced Kateryna PALENKHA (UKR), with whom she was evenly matched, tying two sets and winning a third. However, the Ukrainian archer clinched one-point advantages on the final two sets, advancing past NICHOLS, 6-4. Céline BEZAULT, who had defeated “the great hope of archery,” Mariana AVITIA, the previous day, had a difficult match against the No. 5 seeded archer FANG Yuting (CHN). BEZAULT managed to score only one point while her opponent was very precise, shooting sets of 29-27-29-27. The Chinese archer won the match 6 to 2.
  
Two Mexican archers met in quarterfinals: Aïda ROMAN and Alejandra VALENCIA. The match didn’t last long as VALENCIA won three straight sets, 6-0! With a series of 27-28-27, VALENCIA was much more consistent than her opponent, who shot 24-26-26. Deepika KUMARI (IND) photo, who became Cadet World Champion here in Ogden in 2009, had to fight hard against FANG Yuting (CHN): both archers shot very well and were tied after 5 sets. The match concluded in a shoot-off, which KUMARI won 9 to 7.
 
CHENG was the only Chinese archer left in semifinals. She faced Mexico’s VALENCIA in a very close match. Both archers fought for the lead over the first four sets and ended up in a tie at 4-4. CHENG finally managed to edge out her opponent in the last set, which she won by the smallest margin, 27 to 26 (6-4). Deepika KUMARI was successful in her match against PALEKHA, winning 6-4.

KUMARI and CHENG Ming of China will shoot for gold on Saturday, August 5th. In the bronze medal match, it will be VALENCIA of Mexico who will meet Ukraine's PALENKHA.
   
Stay tuned on www.worldarchery.org!
  
World Archery Communication  / Teresa IACONI, USA Archery