The 2013 World Cup will be launched in Shanghai

The world’s top archers will gather in the vibrant Chinese city for the first major archery event of 2013, marking the start of a new Olympic cycle. Qualification and preliminary eliminations will be held at the Yuanshen Stadium, while the finals will be staged downtown at the Huangpu River shores, in the spectacular Pudong district. It is the sixth time that Shanghai will host the Archery World Cup since 2006.

This season, individual recurve archers will shoot a FITA Round in qualifications and then matches of 5 sets of 3 arrows at 70 metres (Olympic Round). Individual compound archers will shoot the 50-metre Round in qualifications and then matches of 5 ends of 3 arrows with cumulative scoring at 50 metres (Compound Round). Teams and mixed teams will shoot respectively 4 ends of 6 and 4 arrows with cumulative scoring. Recurve teams will keep shooting at 70 metres and compound ones at 50 metres.

Let’s now have a look at the top individuals and teams that are the most likely to dominate the Shanghai World Cup.

Recurve Men

All eyes will be on Italy, the reigning Olympic team champion. The team coached by Wietse VAN ALTEN, himself an Olympic medallist from the Netherlands, will be made of Olympic champions Michele FRANGILLI and Mauro NESPOLI, and new comers Massimiliano MANDIA and Alberto ZAGAMI. The two-time Olympic champion Marco GALIAZZO didn’t pass the selections.

Korea will present an exceptional roster including the new individual Olympic champion OH Jin Hyek and double Olympic team champion (2004 & 2008) IM Dong-Hyun. The land of the Morning Calm will also present two athletes who are new on the World Cup circuit, JIN Jae Wang and 18-year-old LEE Seung Youn.

The USA come with an interesting team made of 1996 Olympic team champion Richard JOHNSON, Olympic team silver medallists from London Brady ELLISON and Jake KAMINSKI, and 2011 Shanghai champion Joe FANCHIN.

France will count on the young but experienced Thomas AUBERT, Gaël PREVOST, and Jean-Charles VALLADONT, in the absence of the team pillar Romain GIROUILLE who is taking a temporary break from competition in order to focus on studies to become a sports teacher.

Other young teams to watch include the European champions Netherlands, with Rick VAN DER VEN, Rick VAN DEN OEVER and Sjef VAN DEN BERG, and Mexico, fourth in London, with Olympic teammates Luis ALVAREZ, Juan René SERRANO and Luis Eduardo VELEZ, as well as 20-year-old newcomer Ivan GONZALEZ.

Individually, in addition to reigning champion OH Jin Hyek, the whole Olympic podium will be present, with silver and bronze medallists Takaharu FURUKAWA from Japan and DAI Xiaoxiang from China. Other individuals to watch include India’s Rahul BANERJEE and Jayanta TALUKDAR, and Ukraine’s Markiyan IVASHKO and 2008 Olympic champion Viktor RUBAN.

Recurve Women

The recurve women’s division features lots of talents as well. The attention will be focused on the world No. 1 and double Olympic champion from London KI Bo Bae from Korea. This event marks the return of two great Korean stars: JOO Hyun-Jun and YUN Ok-Hee. Both are 2008 Olympic team champions, the former was also the 2009 individual world champion, and the latter was the winner of the 2010 World Cup Final.

The Koreans will be challenged by the Chinese Olympic team silver medallists CHENG Ming, FANG Yuting and XU Jing. Another force to count with is Mexico, travelling in force with the two Olympic medallists from London Mariana AVITIA and Aida ROMAN, and Pan-American champion Alejandra VALENCIA, joined by 19-year-old newcomer Mariana GARCIA.

The Russian team could do well this season, thanks to the comeback of European champion Natalya ERDYNIYEVA and youth Olympic medallist Tatiana SEGINA, in addition to Olympians Kristina TIMOFEEVA and Ksenia PEROVA.

Strong contenders also include world No. 3 Deepika KUMARI of India, multiple world champion and Olympic medallist Natalia VALEEVA (ITA), French Olympic medallist Bérengère SCHUH, Olympic team bronze medallist Kaori KAWANAKA (JPN), Olympic teammates from the United States Miranda LEEK and Khatuna LORIG, TAN Ya-Ting of Chinese Taipei, as well as the Ukrainian Olympians Lidiia SICHENIKOVA and Viktoriya KOVAL, the latter returning to competition after having a baby.

Compound Men

Most of the top athletes in this division belong to the United States. Who could stop Dave COUSINS, Braden GELLENTHIEN, Rodger WILLETT Jr. and world No. 1 Reo WILDE? All of them have been world team champions and have won numerous individual medals at the highest level.

The main challenge will come from the French duo Dominique GENET and Pierre-Julien DELOCHE, world No. 3 and No. 4, who both competed at last year’s World Cup Final. Other strong compound athletes include World Cup Final champion from 2009 and 2010 Sergio PAGNI (ITA), world record holder Peter ELZINGA (NED), former World Cup stage winners Martin DAMSBO (DEN) and Shaun TEASDALE (NZL).

The Korean archers, most famous for their performance in recurve archery, will present strong compound teams for this first stage.

Compound Women

On the compound women’s side, the double world champion Albina LOGINOVA (RUS) will face challenge from American World Cup Final winners Erika JONES (2011) and Jamie VAN NATTA (2008 & 2012), as well as from the new German team star Kristina BERGER, who was impressive in 2012. The Italians Laura LONGO, Marcela TONIOLI and Katia D’AGOSTINO, who have collected medals more than once, will be hoping to go for gold too. Watch out also for the talented Dutch archer Inge VAN CASPEL, Mexico’s Linda OCHOA and Iran’s Parsahmer MAHTAB.

Stay tuned on our website for all news, information, photos and results. Join us on facebook and twitter for the live coverage.

World Archery Communication