Four new winners crowned in Nîmes !

  The first tournament of the year 2013 attracted over a thousand archers from 31 countries accross Europe, Asia, America and Africa. The best in the world competed alongside amateurs on the shooting line. Following two rounds of qualifications on Friday and Saturday, the finals took place on Sunday in front of a crowd of 2200 spectators.   Recurve Men  Sebastian ROHRBERG (left) and Rick VAN DER VEN   Several former winners of the tournament were present in Nîmes, including Brady ELLISON, world No. 1 and winner of the last two editions, and the trio of Olympic team champions from Italy Michele FRANGILLI, Marco GALIAZZO and Mauro NESPOLI. However, the competition didn’t go as planned for these favourites, none of whom made it to the medal matches. The world No. 1 Brady ELLISON, who took a post-Olympic break from training, lost the first two sets of his quarterfinal against Spanish Olympian Elias CUESTA. The American came back to 4-4 but had a 9 in his last set compared to 10-10-10 by the Spaniard. ELLISON’s Olympic teammate Jake KAMINSKI (USA), third in Singapore, was defeated in quarterfinals as well by Sebastian ROHRBERG (3-7). Finally, FRANGILLI lost his quarterfinal to compatriot Alberto ZAGAMI in a close shoot-off.   The 21-year-old Rick VAN DER VEN (NED), who showed remarkable consistency in 2012 with a title of European champion (individual and team) and a fourth-place finish at the Olympic Games, did not disappoint in Nimes. He reached the gold medal match – but lost the title 2-6 to Sebastian ROHRBERG (GER), indoor world champion in 2007, for whom it is the first victory in Nimes. The bronze medal went to Elias CUESTA, who defeated Alberto ZAGAMI 6-2.   Rahul BANERJEE, the first representent of India in the history of the tournament, reached the 1/8 elimination round where he was defeated by Michele FRANGILLI. “There are no indoor facilities where I live”, commented the archer from India. “I practiced in the hallway of my building, where I placed a target at 18 metres. Several other archers have been inspired to start shooting indoors as well, and I hope to inspire more in the future.”   Recurve Women  
The recurve women final featured the surprising Swiss archer Céline SCHOBINGER (photo), who was fifth in qualifications, and the five-time indoor world champion Natalia VALEEVA (ITA), who was chasing a first victory in Nimes. The Swiss, visibly nervous, lost the first set but pulled herself together as the match progressed. “After I lost the first set, I told myself it was now or never, and I tried to better focus on every arrow and score every time a 10.” After a tie at 4-4, she needed a 10 on her last arrow of the final set to win the gold medal, and didn’t falter. It was the first major individual victory for the 23-year-old.   In the bronze medal match, KIM Min Jung (KOR) suffered a 9 in the first set, but went on to shoot nine 10s to defeat Lisa UNRUH (GER), winner of the tournament in 2005, 2007 and 2012. A former indoor world champion in this very arena ten years ago, Berengere SCHUH (FRA), easily the crowd’s favourite, didn’t make it past the 1/8 elimination round. Her compatriot Celine BEZAULT, winner of the Indoor World Cup stage 1 in Singapore, was eliminated in the early rounds as well.   Compound Men  Gold medal match: Reo WILDE (left) v Pierre-Julien DELOCHE    “I want to win Nimes this time”, said Reo WILDE before the tournament, one of the few that the world No. 1 had never won. WILDE’s hardest match came in quarterfinals against Sergio PAGNI (ITA), former World Cup Final winner and champion in Nimes in 2006, 2008 and 2012. The match ended in a draw and the American won the shoot-off. He went on to defeat 6-4 the surprising Norwegian Njaal AAMAAS, who shot no less than 300 points in his second half of qualification, and ended the hopes of Dave COUSINS (USA) in quarterfinals. A recurve archer for a dozen years, AAMAAS switched to compound only a little over a year.   WILDE’s opponent in the final was the crowd favourite Pierre-Julien DELOCHE, world No. 3 and winner in 2009. The French archer, who shot a national indoor record of 598 the week before the tournament, said the performance released the pressure on him. To reach the final, he defeated Peter ELZINGA in the 1/8 round, the World Cup Final winner Braden GELLENTHIEN in quarterfinals, and finally the world silver medallist Jesse BROADWATER (USA) in the semifinal!   Pierre-Julien DELOCHE was nervous shooting the gold medal match against Reo WILDE. He suffered one or two 9s in every set, allowing WILDE to win the match 7-1. After he dominated the 2012 season (indoor world champion, winner of the three World Cup stages and the Final as well as the Indoor World Cup stage 1 in Singapore), the year 2013 looks promising for WILDE. His opponent said that  “I am very happy about the performance overall, because the level of this tournament was higher than a world championships. I was very nervous shooting the final, and against a titan like Reo WILDE, you can’t afford to be nervous.” (Click here to read DELOCHE's own review on the competition.) The French archer, who is working outside of the sport, is considering to take archery as his main job. In the final for bronze, Jesse BROADWATER defeated Njaal AAMAAS 6-2 for third place.   Compound Women  Naomi JONES (GBR) defeated the local archer from Nimes Sandrine VANDIONANT in the semifinal with a perfect series of 10-10-10, 10-10-10, 10-10-10! She faced world No. 2 Marcella TONIOLI (ITA) in the gold medal match. The British archer trailed 2-4 after three sets, but won the last two sets 29-27 and 29-28 to win the title! A great performance for Naomi, who already won the Face2Face Tournament in Amsterdam in late 2012.   The best French archer Sandrine VANDIONANT fought hard in the bronze medal match against Gladys WILLEMS (BEL), who had defeated the world champion Albina LOGINOVA (RUS) in quarterfinal. VANDIONANT led 5-3 but scored three 9s in the final set to let her opponent come back. With the support of the crowd, she won the shoot-off 10-9 and the bronze medal.   The defending champion Danielle BROWN (GBR), who won the Paralympic gold medal before placing second at the World Cup Final in 2012, lost in the early rounds.   Indoor World Cup Ranking   The Tournament of Nimes served as second stage of the 2012-2013 Indoor World Cup. The 16 best archers of the Tournament of Nimes in each of the four international categories, as well as the 16 best from the Indoor World Cup stage 1 that took place in Singapore last December, have received points counting towards the Indoor World Cup Ranking. These archers will have the opportunity to qualify for the Indoor World Cup Final under the condition that they compete in the Las Vegas Tournament taking place on 8-10 February. The 16 best archers of each category will shoot the Indoor World Cup Final.   Complete results   Elimination matches details    Photo gallery   World Archery Communication