Chinese Taipei, Korea and USA win the first gold medals

 
Recurve Mixed Team – Bronze Medal China (5) v USA (6) The XING Yu/FANG Yuting pairing was stopped by the surprising Japanese double in the semi-final on Friday afternoon. On home soil the Chinese would cheered by a rapturous crowd along the Riverside Boulevard. The World Cup Final winner Brady ELLISON and four-time Olympian Khatuna LORIG were warned before this match!   In the first match, the two teams had their male representative shoot first. ELLISON started with two 8s, quite unusual shots for him. His teammate had a good 9 and a bad 6 on the right side of the target. With 37 points in the first end, their opponents took an early 6-point lead.   XING/FANG continued with another 37 points and increased their advantage by one point (74-67). ELLISON/LORIG shot four 9s for 36 points in the second end. While the Americans repeated with 36 in the third, FANG scored a 7 in this end and her team lost two points with 34 (108-103).   Despite recovering three more points in the last end with 38, the American double paid for their bad start! With 35 points to end the match, the Chinese delivered the bronze medal to their home crowd (143-141).  Recurve Mixed Team – Gold Medal Japan (16) v Chinese Taipei (2) The Japanese double made up of Hideki KIKUCHI/Ren HAYAKAWA succeeded against expectation in this competition. Entering eliminations on Friday as the lowest seeded mixed team, they upset the No. 1 Koreans, the No. 9 Ukrainians and the No. 5 Chinese. For gold KIKUCHI/HAYAKAWA would face the 2nd seeded double of KUO Cheng Wei/TAN Ya-Ting from Chinese Taipei.   It was not easy for the Japanese to withstand pressure in this gold final. KIKUCHI shot a 6 with his first arrow and his team scored 34 points in the first end. They trailed by three, after their contenders started with 37.    The two teams hit the yellow (10 or 9) with all arrows in the second end, but KUO/TAN had one more 10 and increased their lead to 75-71. This point was recovered by their contenders in the third end, however, as KIKUCHI/HAYAKAWA scored three 9s and one 10, while KUO/TAN shot 9-10-8-9 (111-108).   Despite four more arrows in the yellow, the four 9s by the Japanese were not enough against two 10s and two 9s by the archers from Chinese Taipei who clinched gold 149-144.   Recurve Women Team – Bronze Medal China (4) v Ukraine (11) China and Ukraine had faced each other six times in World Cup events since 2006. Advantage lied with the Asian side with five victories, including last year's quarter-finals in Shanghai. The local team also beat Ukraine in the quarterfinal back in 2004 at the Olympic Games in Athens. Their last encounter was in August 2011 at the Summer Universiade in China, where the Ukrainian team was victorious but in a match shot according to a Hit/Miss system.   The outcome was determined early in this bronze medal match! PALEKHA and ZAKHARCHENKO shot two 6s with their first arrows and the Ukrainian ladies trailed by nine points after six arrows (44-53).   In the last three ends, PALEKHA/ZAKHARCHENKO/SICHENIKOVA only lost two points in total to CHENG/XU/FANG. The Ukrainians scored 54 points three times, but their very bad start was fatal to them. With 53-54-55-55 the local archers were very consistent throughout the match and clinched the bronze medal 217-206.  Recurve Women Team – Gold Medal Korea (1) v India (2) The advantage was on Korea's side in their face-to-face encounters with India, 7-2. However, the last one turned to the advantage of the second team in the semi-finals at the World Championships in Italy last year.   While LEE/CHANG/KI opened the gold final with a triple 9, their opponents KUMARI/SWURO/DEVI only scored three 7s. The two teams then scored 28 with their following three arrows in the first end. Six-point advantage for the Koreans: 55-49!   The shooting between the two teams became more balanced, but the Indians let two more points go in the second end (54-56) for a provisional score of 103-111. They managed to get one back in the third with 56 points (55 points for Korea), 159-166. SWURO was the most hesitant shooter in the match. She scored another 7 at her last arrow and India let the gold medal go 212-222.   The Koreans proved the most consistent in this final with ends of 55, 56, 55, and 56 points and one more time they deserved victory!   Recurve Men Team – Bronze Medal Korea (1) v Ukraine (3) Clear psychological advantage for Korea against Ukraine, 4-1! The Koreans easily won the last encounter, 223-209, last year for bronze at Stage 1 in Croatia. Besides, IM Dong Hyun beat Dmytro HRACHOV in semi-finals at the London Archery Classic, Olympic Test Event held last October.   Viktor RUBAN/Dmytro HRACHOV/Markiyan IVASHKO took the best start. With 55 points, they had a 2-point lead over their opponents who scored 53 points. The scores were reversed in the second end (53 for Ukraine and 55 for Korea) and it was a tie at 108-108.   Amazing shooting for the Ukrainians in the third end! The crowd could cheer at their 10-10-10-10-10! Only IVASHKO let it go with an 8 at the sixth arrow. This 58-point series was decisive as they took a 6-point advance over their contenders (166-160), who only scored 52 in this end.   The Koreans IM Dong Hyun/KIM Bubmin/OH Jin Hyek shot their best end of the match (56 points) to conclude, but the decision was made already in the previous one. Ukraine proved the most consistent team and they won the bronze medal, 221-216.  Recurve Men Team – Gold Medal USA (5) v France (2) The two teams were tied in their duels before this match! The French team won 225-220 in the quarterfinals of the World Championships 2009, but Team USA got their own back on them last year in Shanghai, 226-215 in semi-finals.   Gael PREVOST/Thomas FAUCHERON/Romain GIROUILLE made a strong start with four 10s in the first end. Despite two 8s at their second and third certainly due to the wind blowing from left to right on the venue, the French took the lead 56-54.   Their opponents Jacob WUKIE/Joe FANCHIN/Brady ELLISON took advantage of a 7 by FAUCHERON and 53 points for the French team in the second end. With 56 points, the Americans recovered and came out in front at 110-109.   Team USA raised their level even higher with 58 in the third end, while their contenders scored 53 for the second time of the game. The gap therefore increased to six points, 168-162. Despite a good reaction with four 10s and two 9s in the last end, the French had to admit defeat. The Americans had found their cruising speed, and with 57 to conclude, they clinched gold in the last match of the morning (225-220)!   The team matches will be followed by the four individual recurve medal matches in the afternoon.   Stayed tuned at www.worldarchery.org!   World Archery Communication