Japan upsets Korea and enters mixed team final

 Recurve Mixed Team The Japanese double was seeded the lowest team after qualifications: 16th! In their first match Hideki KIKUCHI and Ren HAYAKAWA faced the Korean ogres IM Dong Hyun and KI Bo Bae, No. 1 seed. They made the most of the fact that their opponents did not seem to be as focused as usual and overturned the hierarchy 153-151. KIKUCHI and HAYAKAWA relied on this victory of prestige for their next match against Dmytro HRACHOV, bronze medallist at last year's world championships, and his teammate Lidiia SICHENIKOVA of Ukraine. The Japanese clinched another close win 144-143. This filled them with a high level of confidence. In the semi-finals they overcame the local pair of XING Yu and FANG Yuting, the latter being no less than the female individual gold final qualifier in Shanghai.   In the gold final on Saturday morning KIKUCHI and HAYAKAWA will fight for gold against the mixed pair from Chinese Taipei. The 2nd seeded mixed team scored the highest score in the first round alongside Japan. KUO Cheng Wei and TAN Ya-Ting defeated Belarus 153-148 to advance to the quarterfinals. There they clinched victory by a whisker, 147-146 against the Mongolian double. KUO and TAN then had another 1-point win, 149-148, over the World Cup defender Brady ELLISON (USA) and his teammate, four-time Olympian Khatuna LORIG. The American pair will have to contend with the noise of the local fans when facing XING and FANG for the bronze medal on the River Boulevard tomorrow, but ELLISON and LORIG without doubt have enough experience to handle the situation.  Compound Mixed Team It was not easy but the four higher seeds reached the semi-finals in this category. The No. 1 seed, the USA, had a tough time against the No. 9 Venezuela trailing 36-37, 74-76 and 113-114. In the last end the USA scored 9-10-10-10 to overtake Venezuela who achieved 9-8-10-10. Final score: 152-151. No. 2 Great Britain defeated No. 7 Belgium: 38-38, 76-77, 114-113, 152-151. No. 4 seed Mexico had to beat No. 5 and current world champion Italy. The match was tight but Mexico led the whole way: 39-38, 78-76, 114-112, 150-149.   USA and Mexico raised their level one more notch during the semi-finals. They started with 38 points each and then built a lead: 77-76, 116-114. Both teams finished with 10-10-10-9 and the Americans clinched the match 155-153. France and Great Britain were tied at 39-39 and 76-76. The French team continued to shoot well (10-9-10-10 and 10-9-10-10), while the British fell apart (9-10-7-10, 9-10-9-8). France won the match 154-148.   Sunday morning Great Britain will shoot against Mexico for bronze, while the USA will shoot against France in the gold final in the compound mixed team and men’s team competitions!   The competition will continue on Saturday with all the recurve medal matches taking place on the River Boulevard in Pudong. The day after the compound finals will then put an end to the Shanghai World Cup Stage.   Stayed tuned at www.worldarchery.org!   World Archery Communication