Quotes of the Official Practice Day

 
Recurve Men  Matjia ZENDLER (SLO) I like the World Cup format and the way it was developed by World Archery during all these years. I like Antalya World Cup Stage because I know the Organising Committee is constantly raising the level of the event year after year.   On the competition side, the level is raising a lot, too. This is the year of the Olympics and all the teams are doing their best to get the last quotas available. Those who already have the place are training very hard to be ready at the right moment. Probably this Antalya World Cup Stage will be one the most challenging ever.   Ilario DI BUO (ITA) I'm in Antalya again. After one year of forced stop, finally I'm back and I can meet all the athletes for everywhere around the world. I attended a lot of competitions here and like the place, the people and the weather.   I'm still in the run for selection for the team components of next Olympics, but I can see that my teammates are really strong and I'm in delay with my preparation. I hope I'll be able to catch my eight Olympic Games in a row.   The injury of past year stopped me really too much and nowadays I'm not completely satisfied about my performances. By the way, in Nimes Indoor World Championships (in 2003) I was seeded last and I won the title, so let's see in the next days what I can do.    Vaziri TEYMOORLOOEI (IRI) It's a good competition in order to acquire experience in sight of London Olympics. My country as an individual quota in recurve men and I will be the athlete going to the Games. It should be great if I can be there with all my teammates as we still have a chance to get a team quota in Ogden next month. We are training a lot to achieve this result and Antalya is a good training camp for all of us.   Recurve Women   Deonne BRIDGER (AUS) After two years as Team Manager, I'm back to this field as an athlete, standing on the "other side" of the waiting line. I can feel a different pressure; it's much easier to be an archer because you have to focus on your arrows only. As Team Manager it was as you were shooting everybody's arrows. I'm sure I will enjoy this competition a lot!   Alena TOLKACH (BLR) It's is my second time in Antalya and I really enjoyed myself so much past year. I hope this year I can have even more fun and reach my goals. Here there are a lot of athletes that have so much more experience than me, and it's important to be here and face them in such a big event.   Olympics Games are one of the most important things in the sport life of an athlete. Me and my team are training a lot because we want to be in London, the main arena of our sport in 2012. I really hope to see all my friends there!   Compound Men   Sam KYRITSOGLOU (BEL) Antalya is all the time a good place where to shoot. The feelings in this field are good and the weather is helping a lot. If these sensations are confirmed, I think I can have an exciting competition; the challenge is the wind because in Antalya it is very unpredictable and in past years it pulled out a lot of good archers.   I'm enjoying my shootings today and I'm looking forward for the next days' results.   Torben JOHANNESSEN (DEN) It's always nice to shoot in Antalya, especially if you come from a northern country like Denmark. We are not used to this sunshine but we are feeling really good in here.   In archery you cannot compare one competition to another, there are too many variables: differences in climate, venues and preparation of the athletes make a huge difference in performance. For sure, the Danish team is here to get as high as possible in the final ranking.   Compound Women   Marcella TONIOLI (ITA) In individual I'd like to repeat the performance I did in Shanghai, but I know it won't be easy. All the athletes have the 25 World Cup points in their sight, but only one of us can win this stage and get them all.   Here I'd like to achieve something more with the team: last month we were defeated by the Russian team in the semifinals, but this time we want to fight for the gold medal. Our coach, Tiziano XOTTI, continuously tells us that "we can do it!" Now it's time to make him happier and happier.   Lucy HOLDERNESS (GBR) It's very nice to be here in Antalya, in the warm sunshine and not in the wind or cold rain. Recently I was involved mainly in 3D and field archery competitions but I like so much to be back in target archery with this team. We are enjoying a lot.   World Archery Communication