The world champion Italian team decimated after two rounds

 
In the morning the recurve division shot two rounds (1/48 and 1/24 eliminations), while there was only one in compound (1/24 round). The "survivors" then catch up in the afternoon with the top 8 from qualifications in each category who were exempted from the first two rounds. They then strive to continue through the next rounds up to the semifinals in order to be entitled to be among the finalists shooting on the River Boulevard in Pudong this weekend.  Recurve Men – 1/48 Several competitors were upset by lower seeded contenders in the first round. Luca MELOTTO (ITA/24) was taken to a shoot-off at 5-5 by Janis AMATNIEKS (LAT/89) in 1/48 eliminations and the tie-break arrow was fatal to the Italian. Although the two athletes shot a 9, the one released by AMATNIEKS was closest to the centre for victory.   The local archers also faced upsets in the first round. LIU Zhaowu (CHN/25) was defeated by Jacek PROC (POL/88), 6-5 after a tight shoot-off (8-8). His teammate DAI Xiaoxiang (35) was forced out of the competition early by Pedro VIVAS ALCALA (MEX/78). However, the two other Chinese representatives JING Xiangqing and XING Yu remained in race.   The experienced Indian, Jayanta TALUKDAR, winner of the team event in Shanghai two years ago and No. 28 seed this year, was quickly knocked out of the competition. His opponent of the day CHUI Chun Man (HKG/85) had a difficult start with only 21 in the first set that he lost to TALUKDAR (0-2). However, he got stronger and stronger in the three following sets (26, 29, 29) and won 6-2.   At 17 years old Sjef VAN DEN BERG (NED) was silver medallist at the recent junior world championships in Vegas, but he is the senior national indoor champion in his country. After good qualifications in Shanghai (37th), he was given a hard time by the No. 76 seed, Enes UGURLU (TUR), in the 1/48 elimination round. The match was tied at 5-5 after five sets. The Dutchman finally clinched victory with a 9 in the shoot-off versus an 8 for the Turk.   Recurve Men – 1/24 In the second round seven matches ended up with the unenviable score of 6-0! Among those, there were two upsets. Romain GIROUILLE (FRA/17), who won the individual and team events of the Asian Grand Prix in Bangkok in mid-February, suffered a surprising elimination against Khairul Anuar MOHAMAD (MAS/48).   Jake KAMINSKI (USA/41) was knocked out by an even lower seeded competitor, AMATNIEKS (89). The Latvian had already defeated the 24th seeded MELOTTO (ITA) in the previous round, but will face a more difficult task in 1/16 against Dmytro HRACHOV (UKR/9), bronze medallist at the Olympic Test Event in October.   One match had to be decided through a tie-break. Michele FRANGILLI (ITA/44) was leading 3-1 after two sets against Sky KIM (AUS/21). However, the Italian was caught by his opponent in the third set (3-3). The match then remained tied until the end (4-4, 5-5). KIM's shoot-off arrow was a perfect shot (10) and the Australian won this undecided battle after FRANGILLI released a final 9.  Recurve Women – 1/48 In the first round, the archer from Samoa who has earned an Olympic quota place could measure the long way left before her for London. Facing Berengere SCHUH (FRA/23), No. 5 in the world and silver medallist last year in Shanghai, Maureen TUIMALEALIIFANO (90) suffered an indisputable loss of 0-6.   Guendalina SARTORI (ITA), 5th at the Olympic Test Event last autumn, had a disappointing qualification round on Wednesday. Seeded only 75th, she faced the No. 38 Helena FERNANDEZ (ESP) in 1/48 eliminations. In this match the reigning team world champion from Italy proved that her ranking from the day before did not show her real standard. SARTORI easily defeated her contender from Spain, 6-0.   SARTORI's teammate and fellow world champion, Jessica TOMASI (ITA/43), did not enjoy the same happy ending in her first round match against Natalia NASARIDZE (TUR/70). The two opponents stayed close to each other and were tied 5-5 at the end. In the shoot-off they released a 7 each, but as the Italian arrow was a liner, the Turkish was just inside the 7-ring to give NASARIDZE the win.   The third Italian in this round, Elena TONETTA (37), was also upset by a lower seeded archer, Asmat DIASAMIDZE (76). The athlete from Georgia clinched a comfortable victory, 7-1.   Recurve Women – 1/24 In the second round seven matches were tied 4-4 after the fourth set, and four encounters ended up in a tie-break (5-5) after five sets. Except for the 23rd seed SCHUH who beat Begul LOKLUOGLU (TUR/42), the three other tied matches were fatal to the higher seeded athletes: Sophie DODEMONT (FRA/26) lost to Elisa BARNARD (AUS/74), Natalia LESNIAK (POL/29) to Gina GONZALEZ (MEX/36), and Kateryna PALEKHA (UKR/32) to Natalya ERDYNIYEVA (RUS/33).   The Turk NASARIDZE (70) went on to defeat a second higher seeded competitor. In the 1/24 elimination she clinched a convincing victory 6-2 versus Lidiia SICHENIKOVA (UKR/22).   On the Italian side, only Natalia VALEEVA, pre-seeded in 1/16 thanks to 6th place in qualifications, remains after Guendalina SARTORI (75) was defeated 4-6 by Nurul Syafiiqah HASHIM (MAS/86).   The all-Mongolian encounter in the second round between the fellow countrywomen Chuluun OYUNSUREN (60) and Bishindee URANTUNGALAG (12) turned to the advantage of the lowest seeded archer, 6-2.  Compound Men – 1/24 Eliminations in the compound division started in 1/24. Twenty-two of the 24 matches had the higher seeded archer as winner. The biggest upset was the wheelchair athlete Philippe HORNER (SUI/49) who defeated Shaun TEASDALE (NZL/16), 142-138. The New Zealander, who won the individual competition in Shanghai in 2010, was feeling confident after a good qualification round and it is therefore a huge disappointment for him.   In an all-South American match the 42nd seeded competitor Hafid JAIME (MEX) kicked out the 23rd seed Maico GOMEZ (VEN). This face-to-face was very close and ended up in a Mexican victory on the score of 145-144.   In this round, five tight matches were decided in a shoot-off: Christophe DOUSSOT (FRA/29) won over Adolfo MEDINA (MEX/36), Andrew RIKUNENKO (GBR/19) over Earl Benjamin YAP (PHI/46), NGUYEN Tien Cuong (VIE/14) over Michael CAULTON (NZL/51), Behzad PAKZAD (IRI/27) over Isaiah Rajender SANAM (IND/38), and Miiko JUUTILAINEN (FIN/31) over Mario CARDOSO (MEX/34).   Compound Women – 1/24 Lily Chanu P. (IND/26) shot the highest score in the first round in compound women. She defeated Aimee DEAVES of Australia (39) by 146-140. The other Indian shooting in 1/24 eliminations, PARVEENA (19) scored 145 to beat Georgina BROWN (GBR/46) with 137. Their teammates Gagandeep KAUR (IND/14) and Jyothi SUREKHA V. (IND/17) were directly qualified for the 1/16 round thanks to their high ranking in the qualifications.   On match was tighter than all the others in this round. Natalia AVDEEVA (RUS/30) trailed by one point against Diane WATSON (USA/35) after the first and second ends, 28-29 and 56-57. However, the Russian managed to recover and take the lead for the first time of the match at 84-83 in the third end. AVDEEVA kept her 1-point lead (113-112) with only one end to go, but she was caught up by WATSON in the last, 140-140. The American made her experience speak in the tie-break. Her arrow was a 9 and it excelled her opponent's 7.   The competition will continue in the afternoon with the next rounds, from 1/16 to the semifinals included for all four categories.   Stayed tuned at www.worldarchery.org!   World Archery Communication