19 October 2011 - VALENCIA beats the world champion in a shoot-off

VALENCIA beats the world champion in a shoot-off Guadalajara – 19 October 2011 Denisse VAN LAMOEN (CHI) at 2011 World Championships    Top seed Alejandra VALENCIA (MEX) defeated Denisse VAN LAMOEN (CHI) in their quarterfinal match at the Pan American Games to advance to the semifinals to be contested next Saturday.     VALENCIA, who had outshot her two opponents in the 1/16 and 1/8 rounds 6-0 and 7-1, lost her first set versus the Chilean world champion 25-28. She came back to tie the match 2-2 in the second set (27-25). After four sets she trailed VAN LAMOEN 3-5, but shot 27 points, one more than her South American opponent, in the fifth set to tie the match. Supported by the local crowd, VALENCIA shot a 9 in the shoot-off to defeat VAN LAMOEN by one point.   In the first semifinal match on Saturday, VALENCIA will face Leidys BRITO from Venezuela, who won a 6-2 match against Colombia’s Paola RAMIREZ. In the other semifinal, Aida ROMAN (MEX) will meet Miranda LEEK (USA). These two archers defeated two Canadians in the quarterfinals: Marie Pier BEAUDET and Kateri VRAKKING, respectively.   LEEK will try to keep the gold medal for the USA, as in the previous Games in Rio 2007 another American archer, Jennifer NICHOLS, won the women’s individual title. Neither Mexico nor Venezuela has ever won a gold medal in archery in the Pan American Games.      The men’s individual elimination matches will get underway at 10:00 (local time) on Thursday. In the 1/16 round Brady ELLISON (USA) will shoot against the 32nd ranked archer Diego RAMOS (ECU). Crispin DUENAS (CAN) will face Cristobal MERLOS (ESA) and Juan Rene SERRANO (MEX) will meet Martin LAZO (ECU).   ELLISON, Pedro VIVAS (MEX), Joe FANCHIN (USA) and SERRANO are in the same part of the match play table, which means that only one of them will be able to shoot in the gold final.   The Canadians Crispin DUENAS and Jay LYON, Juan Carlos STEVENS (CUB), Daniel PINEDA (COL) and Jake KAMINSKI (USA) are on the other side of the brackets.   Sergio FONT World Archery Communication