Shanghai: Recurve qualifications – Korea dominates

The year 2013 is a world championships year and therefore the recurve athletes renew with a FITA Round in qualifications. The men shoot 4*36 arrows at 90, 70, 50 and 30 metres, while the women compete at 70, 60, 50 and 30 metres. 

Tomorrow, the compound athletes will shoot the 50-metre Round which has been introduced for them in 2012.

Recurve Men

All the athletes in the top 6 at 90 metres had some serious credentials. The Olympic champion OH Jin Hyek (KOR) topped the field with 333 points. The second in the ranking was not so well-known, but the 18 years-old LEE Seungyun (KOR) won an individual silver and team bronze in Cadet at the last World Archery Youth Championships. He scored 325 points. At 3rd place, Khairul Anuar MOHAMAD (MAS) is the current Asian champion and he was a quarterfinalist in London. He also reached the 2nd place at the Shanghai World Cup in 2011. 

At 4th place, Mauro NESPOLI (ITA) won none the less than two Olympic team medals, silver in Beijing and gold in London. He was at 322 points together with Rick VAN DER VEN (NED), 4th in London, and the simply famous IM Dong Hyun (KOR). 

OH was not as impressive at 70 metres. He scored 338 points, but retained his overall 1st place with 671 points. LEE closed the gap to two points with 669, scoring 343 points at 70m. JIN scored 342 points, VAN DER VEN 335 and MOHAMAD 333 points at this distance. Jayanta TALUKDAR (IND) scored 339 points and reached the provisional 7th place with 653 points. 

OH was again the best at 50 metres with 342 points. LEE was only 13th on this distance with 335 points. OH led the field with 1013, while LEE had 1003. JIN was at 999 points and MOHAMAD at 993. Olympic silver medallist Takaharu FURUKAWA (JPN) was 2nd at this distance with 341 points. He moved up to 6th place with 986 points.

The top three at 30 metres ranked on the same order in the final classification. OH finished with 358 points at 30 metres to clinch the FITA Round with 1371 points. OH said “today’s conditions were very good, my shot was good and arrows went as I expected. Nevertheless, in terms of going for a record, wind conditions were difficult but I am generally very satisfied with my results. I now will keep going until the end of the competition, and remain in a good shape for myself and for the Korean team.” 

LEE and JIN had 357 points to finish the day respectively with 1360 and 1356 points. MOHAMAD reached 1346 and VAN DER VEN 1341. “I just dropped a few points at moments I should not have”, commented VAN DER VEN, who used his “Olympic” bow today. The Dutch archer also led his team to 3rd place. “It is our best team World Cup ranking ever but the score was totally what we expected it to be.” 

Recurve Men Team

In the team event, Korea finished 1st ahead of China and the Netherlands. Chinese Taipei was 16th.

Recurve Women

The other Olympic champion, KI Bo Bae (KOR), showed her supremacy at 70 metres with 337 points. The women who won the most World Cup events, YUN Ok Hee (KOR) was 2nd with 334 points. Bishindee URANTUNGALAG (MGL) scored a nice 333 points for 3rd place. She was followed by the silver medallist in London, Aida ROMAN (MEX), who stood one point behind URANTUNGALAG. CHANG Hye Jin (KOR) had 331 points and the first Chinese athlete, WU Jianxin scored 329 points. 

CHANG scored an impressive 343 points at 60 metres and overtook KI for the provisional lead. CHANG reached 674 points, while KI had 676. ROMAN had 674 points. YUN had 672 points. The 2009 world champion JOO Hyun-Jung scored 341 points (4th on the distance) at 60 metres to move up from 13th to 5th. 

The race was very tight after the 50-metres distance! CHANG led with a total of 1013 points, YUN was at 1012, KI reached 1011 and ROMAN followed with 1010! JOO was a bit behind with 1002 points, while Khatuna LORIG (USA), who was 4th in London, scored 997 points.

CHANG and YUN finished the day tied at 1368 points. They both shot 80s ten! Finally CHANG ranked 1st because she scored more X10 (33-29). ROMAN took a nice 3rd place with 1365 points, two more than the Olympic champion KI. JOO finished with 1353 points and TAN Ya-Ting had a strong afternoon session to take the 6th place with 1345 points. 

“Before the start of the day, I was a bit nervous and my heart was beating very fast”, commented YUN. “At the end, I am happy with this result and I will now concentrate even more until the end of the competition. I already won a World Cup in four occasions so I am confident.” 

Her teammate CHANG improved greatly from last year: she took part in the Shanghai and Antalya World Cups, but her results were not as good. “Thanks to God, today’s results are very satisfactory to me, so I will try to keep the level of my shooting conditions. I want to get any kind of individual medal”, concluded the 26-year-old. 

Mexico’s ROMAN declared that “I feel like I shot really well but I am a little tired! Today has been a long, hot, sweaty day but I managed a personal competition best. I shot 1365 today, and my old best was from the 2011 Pan American Games where I had shot 1357. One of my goals this year was to reach 1360 points so I am pleased to start the year so well.” 

Recurve Women Team

In the team event, Korea finished the day with 4099 points at 1st place, ahead of the surprising Germany and China! Iran finished in 16th place. 

Recurve Mixed Team

Korea, Mexico and India took the top three places in the mixed team. Brazil was 16th just one point ahead of Denmark!

World Archery Communication