ELLISON strikes gold for the USA at London Archery Classic

The No. 2 seed, Khairul Anuar MOHAMAD (MAS), took bronze after defeating Dmytro HRACHOV (UKR) 6-4.   ELLISON, the world No. 1, has been in commanding form all week and proved it again in the 1/8 eliminations as he fired eight 10s from his nine arrows on the way to beating Jean-Charles VALLADONT (FRA) 6-0.   The American also saw off the challenge of Haziq KAMARUDDIN (MAS) in the quarterfinals, which set up a semifinal meeting with KAMARUDDIN’s teammate MOHAMAD (MAS).   Once again ELLISON, fresh from his World Cup win in Turkey, proved too strong for his opponent, beating MOHAMAD 6-2.   That set up a gold medal match against IM, the No. 1 seed, who started the week by setting two world records—in the ranking round and the men’s team event.   IM beat CHENG Chu Sian (MAS), teammate OH Jin Hyek and HRACHOV but could not find a way past the outstanding ELLISON.   It was a disappointing day for the other Koreans too. OH was beaten in the quarterfinals by IM, and KIM Woojin went out at the same stage to HRACHOV, who was the only European representative in the last eight.   Korea finished top of the medal standing with two gold medals, one silver and two bronze. The USA also won two gold medals while China, Poland and Chinese Taipei took one silver and Japan and Malaysia one bronze medal.   That put an end to the London Archery Classic at Lord's Cricket Ground. After a successful Olympic Test Event everyone is now looking ahead to the 2012 Olympic Games!   Here are the key notes from the gold medal match: - IM Dong-Hyun (KOR) and Brady ELLISON (USA)! The Roger FEDERER of archery against the Rafael NADAL of archery! The former world No. 1 against the new world No. 1! At 25 years old, IM has already won EVERYTHING in archery, EXCEPT the individual Olympic gold medal. At 23 years old, ELLISON is building his resume, which contains already two World Cup Final victories and one individual bronze at the last world championships. ELLISON publically announced that he aims for two gold medals at the Olympic Games (individual and team). This individual final at the Test Event is the one that everyone is looking for the Olympic Games next year. They have met four times already. IM won their first encounter, while ELLISON took the last three (all with the set system). At the end of their careers, these will be truly two of the greatest archers of all time; and there can be only one winner today! In very difficult conditions, with very strong gusts of wind swaying the archers, IM and ELLISON scored some very good arrows all the same. Their shots were a little bit less consistent than usual, however. The game was decided in four sets, each set being won with 28 points. IM took the first one to lead 2-0, but ELLISON then scored three times 28 in a row to win the gold medal in this event, 6-2!   Here are the key notes from the bronze medal match: - HRACHOV and MOHAMAD have never met before. The Ukrainian has been in top form lately reaching his best world ranking, 5th, mid-September just before flying to the World Cup Final in Istanbul where he won the bronze medal. He also won a team bronze medal at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. MOHAMAD really burst into the front scene at the Shanghai World Cup, where he took the 2nd place in individuals and teams. He will be among the favourites for the upcoming Asian championships in Tehran next week. In the bronze final the Malay released his first three arrows in the yellow ring to win the first set 29-26 and take the lead 2-0. After a 7 to open the second set, MOHAMAD followed with two other 10s. With 27 against 26 for his Ukrainian opponent, he added two set points and increased his lead at 4-0. HRACHOV then made the effort to come back, but could only tie the third set, 27-27, and stayed alive at 5-1. The Ukrainian then came back at 5-3, but as the final set was a draw 25-25, he conceded defeat by 6-4.    Here are the key notes from the semifinals: - IM and HRACHOV have met once: in quarterfinals at Ulsan 2009 World Championships. The competition format was different at the time: 12-arrow match with cumulative score. IM won 112-109 on his way to the silver medal. He also won the team gold that year. Seeded No 1 in London, IM Dong-Hyun (KOR) was team Olympic champion in 2004 and 2008, individual and team world champion in 2007, World Cup Final winner in 2008, team and mixed team world champion this year, and more… He broke two world records at the beginning of the event last week. HRACHOV has been in top form lately reaching his best world ranking, 5th, mid-September just before flying to the World Cup Final in Istanbul where he won the bronze medal. He also won a team bronze medal at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. The two competitors were tied at 1-1 in the first set of the first semifinal. But IM then kept improving his scores and won the next three sets. He even finished with a perfect 10-10-10 fourth set to reach the gold medal match beating HRACHOV by 7-1. - MOHAMAD is the only one who defeated ELLISON in the World Cup this season! The Malaysian won 6-4 in the 1/8 eliminations in Shanghai on his way to the silver medal. That was their only encounter. MOHAMAD really burst into the front scene in the Shanghai World Cup, where his team also took the 2nd place. They will be among the favourites for the upcoming Asian Championships in Tehran, Iran. ELLISON is the No. 1 ranked archer in the world. He has won three World Cup stages this season as well as the Final. He also won the World Cup Final in 2010 and the bronze medal at the world championships in July. He will participate with the whole US team present in London at the Pan-American Games next week. In the second semifinal of the afternoon, ELLISON made the best start with four 10s in the first two sets. With one point better than his opponent in each set (28-27, 29-28), the American took a comfortable lead at 4-0. But with only 26 points, he let the third set go to his opponent with 27 (4-2). Feeling danger come from MOHAMAD's side, the world No. 1 then hit the yellow ring three times to win the following set 28-26 and the match 6-2.   Here are the key notes from the afternoon quarterfinals: - Seeded No 1, IM Dong-Hyun (KOR) was team Olympic champion in 2004, individual and team world champion in 2007, World Cup Final winner in 2008, team gold and individual silver medallist at 2009 world championships, team and mixed team world champion this year, and more… In the first quarterfinal match, he faced his teammate OH Jin Hyek (KOR/8) with whom he clinched bronze last Monday in the team event. In individual the two Koreans faced each other twice in the past in world championships semifinals. IM won in 2007, but OH got his revenge this year before he lost to Brady ELLISON (USA) for gold. Under gusty wind and trailing 1-3 in the match, OH found a perfect 30 set to equalize at 3-3. But at the end the most consistent archer, IM, won the match 7-3, scoring four sets of 27 points and one of 26. - The third Korean, KIM Woojin (KOR/5), who won bronze with his teammates IM and OH in the team event at Lord's Cricket Ground last week, was against Dmytro HRACHOV (UKR/20). The Ukrainian has been in top form lately reaching his best world ranking, 5th, mid-September just before flying to the World Cup Final in Istanbul where he won the bronze medal. The two archers met twice before, each of them winning one encounter. HRACHOV won the first set 27-26 to take the lead 2-0. He then doubled his lead (4-0) shooting 27 again and taking advantage of a 5 by his opponent. The Ukrainian suffered from a poor 24-point fourth set, and his opponent from Korea came back at 4-2. KIM then went on scoring 28 and 29 in the next two sets and the match ended on a tie at 5-5. In the shoot-off, the two archers appeared quite nervous and disturbed by the win. KIM released a 7, leaving the door open to HRACHOV who clinched victory with an 8! - Everyone has been asking themselves: who can beat Brady ELLISON (USA/3)? Indeed, after winning two World Cups in a row (2010 and 2011), the world No. 1 has shown amazing shooting since the eliminations started at the London Archery Classic. After defeating Crispin DUENAS (CAN) in the 1/16 round, 6-0 with 30, 28 and 28 points in the sets, he repeated in 1/8 against Jean-Charles VALLADONT (6-0 / 30, 29, 29). This means his set average score is above 29 (exactly 29.16) and his arrow average 9.72 (out of 10!) Despite having shot 9.05 per arrow in average so far, his opponent in quarterfinal Haziq KAMARUDDIN (MAS/38) will probably have to shoot the match of his lifetime to get over ELLISON… With a miss to open the match KAMARUDDIN could not have had a worse start! However, he made the most of the unusually low second set by ELLISON to tie à 2-2. But the American quickly regained self-control and shot 10-10-10 to take the lead back at 4-2. He then scored 25 points in the fourth set, which was enough to win the game against his opponent's final 22 points. - Takaharu FURUKAWA (JPN/26) defeated two higher ranked archers in the two previous rounds: DAI Xiaoxiang (CHN/7) and Joe FANCHIN (USA/10). In quarterfinals the Japanese had an even more difficult task against the No. 2 seed Khairul Anuar MOHAMAD (MAS/2), who has shown great skills in matches with 6-0 and 7-1 victories so far. And the task indeed proved too arduous, even though the Japanese won the first set 28-27 (2-0), he then could not hold on in the long run and lost the three next sets. The archer from Malaysia clinched victory 6-2 and will face ELLISON in semifinals!   Here are some key notes from Monday morning matches: - The No. 1 seed IM Dong-Hyun (KOR) opened the day against CHEN Chu Sian (MAS/17). IM won team bronze with Korea earlier in the event after setting a second world record in successive days. Just 24 hours after he broke his own individual record during the Ranking Round last Monday, the men’s team of IM, KIM Woojin and OH Jin Hyek recorded a joint score of 233, breaking the previous mark by two points, as they triumphed over Australia in quarterfinals. CHEN is part of the Malaysian squad that has come in the forefront lately, with a team silver medal at the Shanghai World Cup in September. In London, all three competitors from Malaysia have advanced to the 1/8 eliminations. In the first match of the day, the higher ranked, more experienced archer from Korea clinched a 6-2 victory. IM only let the second set go after shooting an unusual 5. - Second Korean on the field today, OH Jin Hyek (KOR/8) also advanced to the quarterfinals. Against Hideki KIKUCHI (JPN/9), OH only lost one set point to win 7-1. He will face his teammate IM in the next round. - And even an easier match for the third Korean in this competition! KIM Woojin (KOR/5) outnumbered XING YU (CHN/21) in a straight three-set match, 6-0! He started with two excellent sets of 30 and 29 to get hold on the match from the very beginning. - The World Cup Final 2011 individual bronze medallist Dmytro HRACHOV (UKR/20) made a bad start with only 18 points in the first set, that he let it go to KUO Cheng Wei (TPE/29), 0-2. However, the Ukrainian pulled himself together and won the three following set to clinch a 6-2 victory. - Jean-Charles VALLADONT (FRA/19) created a shock in the previous round when he beat Olympic champion Viktor RUBAN (UKR) 6-4. The 22-year old Frenchman was a member of the French team that clinch silver at the last world championships. But he was given a difficult task in 1/8 eliminations: he faced Brady ELLISON (USA/3), the world No. 1 and World Cup winner for the last two years! An insurmountable task as the American was brilliant with eight 10s and a 9 for a straight 6-0 victory! - Pedro VIVAS ALCALA (MEX) won bronze at the Shanghai World Cup and finished 6th at the World Cup Final in Istanbul in September. Seeded No. 11 in London, in had the advantage of the ranking on his side in 1/8 eliminations against Haziq KAMARUDDIN (MAS/38), 18 years old. However, after three sets there was a draw at 3-3. KAMARUDDIN then thwarted his opponent's ambitions hitting the yellow ring five times in his final six arrows to win 7-3! - Joe FANCHIN (USA) clinched two gold medals (individual and team) at the Shanghai World Cup in September. The victory in the individual event ensured him a sport for the Final in Istanbul where he finished 5th. Seeded No. 10 in London he face two-time Olympian (Athens and Beijing) Takaharu FURUKAWA (JPN), No. 26 seed. The American and the Japanese won two sets each and tied the fifth to go onto a shoot-off! FANCHIN scored a 9 that was outshined by a perfect 10 by FURUKAWA for victory. - Khairul Anuar MOHAMAD (MAS) succeeded against expectation in the ranking round, finishing 2nd. In the last match of the morning session, he faced Luis Eduardo VELEZ SANCHEZ (MEX/15) who defeated Michele FRANGILLI (ITA/18), world championships team bronze medallist this year, 6-0 in the previous round. The archer from Malaysia lived up to his ranking leaving only one set point to his opponent for a 7-1 win.   The matches were shot in the best-of-five sets format. Each set consists of three arrows and is worth two points; each archer gets one point in the case of a tied set. The first archer with six set points wins the match. In the case of a tied match at 5-5 in set points, a one-arrow shoot-off is shot. The winner is the archer whose arrow is closest to centre.   After a successful Olympic Test Event at Lord's Cricket Ground everyone is now looking ahead to the 2012 Olympic Games next year!   LOCOG / World Archery Communication