European Indoor Championships conclude in Rzeszow

 
The European Championships took place from 26 February - 2 March in the city of Rzeszow, Poland. The competition featured senior and junior archers competing in the four international categories, in team and individual events.   Recurve Men The Dutchman Rick VAN DER VEN (photo), 4th at the Olympic Games, defeated Jean-Charles VALLADONT (FRA), leader from qualifications and winner of the Singapore Indoor World Cup, in a close gold medal match (6-4). Sjef VAN DEN BERG (NED) won the bronze.   Rick VAN DER VEN led the Netherlands to the team gold medal, ahead of Russia (234-231) and Italy. In doing so, Rick VAN DER VEN currently holds all the European titles – outdoor and indoor individual and team champion!   Recurve WomenNathalia Erdynieva (photo) has been absent from international competition last year. With some solid shooting during eliminations she showed everyone she is still a force to be reckoned with. Her opponent was none other then reigning world indoor champion Natalia VALEEVA (ITA). The No. 1 seeded Natalia ERDYNIEVA (RUS) won the gold medal over the multiple world indoor champion Natalia VALEEVA (ITA), whom she defeated in the final match 7-3 (30-30, 30-27, 27-28, 30-29, 29-26). Claudia MANDIA (ITA) took the bronze medal.   Ukraine, with the help of No. 2 seed Lidiia SICHENIKOVA and the the 2008 Olympian Viktoriya KOVAL, making her competitive comeback in Rzeszow after starting a family in 2012, won the team title in a very tight match. After a tie at 226-226, both teams scored a perfect 30 in the shoot-off, but Ukraine’s better arrow gave them the gold. Italy finished second, and Russia defeated the host country 225-224 for third place.  Compound Men Pierre-Julien DELOCHE (FRA) scored five perfect sets to defeat Martin DAMSBO (DEN) in the semifinal (6-4) and went on to shoot only 10s in the final against Peter ELZINGA (NED). Victory 6-2 (30-29, 30-30, 30-30, 30-29) for the Frenchman with all 10s.    The bronze medal went to Stephan HANSEN (DEN), impressive third qualifier who took out Sergio PAGNI (ITA) in the 1/8 elimination round and won the bronze medal against his teammate Martin DAMSBO 6-0.   ELZINGA accepted defeat individually, but took revenge in the team event – he led the Netherlands to the gold medal against France (237-233). Denmark finished third over Norway (234-232).       Compound WomenNaomi JONES (GBR) defeated the two-time world champion Albina LOGINOVA (RUS) to make her way to the gold medal match. She faced the world field champion Ivana BUDEN (CRO). Ivana has been a top ranked European archer for many years but never managed to win a European title. This time she set the record straight and won her long awaited tilte in the indoor compound division.
Naomi JONES scored 29 in all five sets – and Ivana BUDEN totalled the same overall number of points but the outcome was in her favour. Naomi JONES won the first two sets (29-28, 29-27), but Ivana BUDEN won the next three with perfect scores (30-29, 30-29, 30-29). Victory for BUDEN, 6-4. The bronze medal final featured two archers from countries rarely seen at this stage of the competition: the No. 13 seed Melanie LAWTHER from Ireland against the No. 22 Jelena BABININA from Lithuania. The match was tied after four set and BABININA emerged the winner with a decisive victory 29-28 in the final set.   The Italian team made of Anastasia ANASTASIO, Laura LONGO and Marcella TONIOLI was seeded No. 1 after qualifications, and met the No. 2 Russia (Albina LOGINOVA, Kira ANDREEVA and Elena NOVIKOVA) in the gold medal match. Both teams scored a total of 230 points; both then scored 29 points in the three-arrow shoot-off, but Italy’s best arrow was closer to the center, giving them the gold. Great Britain defeated the host team Poland for third place.   Across all categories and divisions, Ukraine won the highest number of gold medals – five. The nation with the most medals of any color was Italy with 8 medals.   Click here for the complete results and here for the photo gallery. More photos on the organisers’ website.   World Archery Communication