“New” champions at the Face 2 Face in Amsterdam

The qualifications were shot in groups of 6 athletes and 12 arrow matches. The top two of each group advanced to the next round. The finals were shot in the set system (best of seven). As there were no ties in the final, a tied score in a set was settled by a shoot-off. Each win gave one point and the first to reach four was declared the winner.   Recurve Men  Junior world record holder Carlo SCHMITZ (GER) meant business coming into the gold medal match against Sebastian ROHRBERG (GER). He stormed to a three straight sets win (30-28, 28-27, 30-30 and the shoot-off). He needed just one more set to take the match. In the fourth set, both Germans shot a 30 but Sebastian won the shoot-off, bringing the match back to 3-1, making Carlo wait for the victory. Carlo didn’t seem to be impressed and shattered Sebastian’s hopes by shooting a strong 29 against 26 points for his opponent (4-1). Another youngster, Sjef VAN DEN BERG from the Netherlands, finished on the third spot.   Recurve Women   The first gold medal match of the day was between youngster Annemarie DER KINDEREN (NED) and world field champion Elena RICHTER (GER). Encouraged by the home crowd, Annemarie started with a solid 29 against Elena’s 25 and took the lead 1-0. In the next set Elena came back strong and shot a perfect 30 while her opponent only managed a 28 (1-1). She went on winning the next set, taking the lead in the match (2-1). Much to the delight of the home crowd, Annemarie picked up the pace and won the next three sets, taking the match 4-2.
(29-27, 30-29, 28-28, victory in the shoot-off). Anne Marie LAURSEN (DEN) won the bronze by defeating her compatriot Louise LAURSEN.   Compound Women   The defending champion Ivana BUDEN (CRO) came in to the gold medal match fully confident and opened strong, winning the first two sets and bringing it to 2-0 (29-28, 28-28 and taking the shoot-off). After her rocky start, Naomi Ruth JONES (GBR) regained her posture and tied the match by winning the next two sets (29-29 and the shoot-off, 29-28). It seemed that the more experienced Ivana could not recover from this and could not get back into her “zone”. Naomi won the fifth set 29 to Ivana’s 28 and took the lead (3-2). Ivana had to win the next set to stay in the match but her opponent had other ideas and shot a perfect 30 while the Croatian could only manage a 29, giving Naomi the victory (4-2). Kristina BERGER (GER) completed the podium with the bronze.   Compound Men  Duncan BUSBY (GBR) and Reo WILDE (USA) were on top off the game the whole weekend, and met in the gold medal match. Over the 240 competition arrows shot over the weekend, Reo had an average of 9,91 per arrow and Duncan 9,83. Reo’s last international performance was at the World Cup Final in Tokyo where he finished second to Braden GELLENTHIEN (USA). In his second appearance in Amsterdam (he won the first time he was here) he said he was ready for another international win and that is was exactly what he did. He did not drop a single point and shot a perfect 150 out of 150, giving Duncan only one set (by shoot-off). The set scores were as follows: 30-30 and a shoot-off (1-0), 30-29 (2-0), 30-28 (3-0), 30-30 and shoot off for Duncan (3-1), 30-30 and shoot off for Reo (4-1). Reo was crowned champion once again! Braden GELLENTHIEN finished third by defeating Dave COUSINS (USA)   For complete results, click here 
For photos www.dutchtarget.com.     Dean ALBERGA World Archery communication