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The compound women made it Colombia’s day today. In the 1/8 elimination round Sara LOPEZ (main photo) established a fantastic new world record in the 15-arrow elimination match at 150 points, breaking the previous mark of 149 set by Gladys WILLEMS (BEL) in 2011. Cheered by the excitement from the crowd, she went on to defeat Camilla SOEMOD (DEN) in the quarter-finals, and faced her teammate Alejandra USQUIANO in the semi-finals. USQUIANO, who is from Medellin, had defeated Sandrine VANDIONANT (FRA) and Diane WATSON (USA) on her way to this semi-final. She scored 146, while LOPEZ, seemingly distracted by her record, shot only 141 points.
On the other side of the bracket, Ana MENDOZA (VEN) stopped world N°1 Albina LOGINOVA (RUS) in the quarter-finals. The Venezuelan archer went on to face Erika JONES (USA) in the semi-finals. After a tough 1/8 round against teammate Brittany LORENTI that ended in a close shoot-off, JONES had defeated world silver medallist Pascale LEBECQUE (FRA). With MENDOZA suffering several 8s and a 7 in the semi-finals, JONES didn’t have to try quite so hard, and won the match 142-132. The gold medal match will feature USQUIANO and JONES, while MENDOZA and LOPEZ will meet for bronze.
“The new record gives lots of confidence, not only to me but to all the team,” said Sara LOPEZ. “With the qualification of Alejandra for the final, we show that we are very strong and that our victory in Turkey wasn’t a coincidence. I’m very happy with this new world record, especially here in Colombia with my family in attendance, and I realise that I’m a good archer. We’ll now see if we can fight for the gold as a team.”
On the compound men’s side, Roberto HERNANDEZ came close to a world record performance in the 1/8 round, when he scored 150 points (5 Xs) to defeat European champion Sergio PAGNI (ITA). However, he lost his next match to world N°1 Braden GELLENTHIEN (USA). The American archer went on to face Canada’s Dietmar TRILLUS in the semi-finals, in a rematch of the 2007 World Championships final that ended in victory for TRILLUS. Today, GELLENTHIEN easily took revenge, winning his berth to the gold medal match, 147-140. In the other semi-final, Reo WILDE (USA) was too strong for Martin DAMSBO of Denmark. After winning gold in Shanghai and silver in Antalya, DAMSBO will challenge TRILLUS for the bronze medal. The final between WILDE and GELLENTHIEN, who stole the world N°1 spot from his elder teammate, promises to be an exciting rematch of the last World Cup Final.
On the other side of the bracket, top Colombian archer Ana Maria RENDON shot her way into the semi-finals against Inna STEPANOVA (RUS), who had defeated top qualifier XU Jing. STEPANOVA took an early lead and though RENDON came back at 4-4, the Russian won the fifth set (29-27) and a spot in the final against LEEK. RENDON will shoot the bronze medal match against CUI. The finals of this event will be exceptionally important as they give athletes a critical opportunity to earn key points towards qualification for the World Cup Final.
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On the other side of the bracket, Ana MENDOZA (VEN) stopped world N°1 Albina LOGINOVA (RUS) in the quarter-finals. The Venezuelan archer went on to face Erika JONES (USA) in the semi-finals. After a tough 1/8 round against teammate Brittany LORENTI that ended in a close shoot-off, JONES had defeated world silver medallist Pascale LEBECQUE (FRA). With MENDOZA suffering several 8s and a 7 in the semi-finals, JONES didn’t have to try quite so hard, and won the match 142-132. The gold medal match will feature USQUIANO and JONES, while MENDOZA and LOPEZ will meet for bronze.
“The new record gives lots of confidence, not only to me but to all the team,” said Sara LOPEZ. “With the qualification of Alejandra for the final, we show that we are very strong and that our victory in Turkey wasn’t a coincidence. I’m very happy with this new world record, especially here in Colombia with my family in attendance, and I realise that I’m a good archer. We’ll now see if we can fight for the gold as a team.”
On the compound men’s side, Roberto HERNANDEZ came close to a world record performance in the 1/8 round, when he scored 150 points (5 Xs) to defeat European champion Sergio PAGNI (ITA). However, he lost his next match to world N°1 Braden GELLENTHIEN (USA). The American archer went on to face Canada’s Dietmar TRILLUS in the semi-finals, in a rematch of the 2007 World Championships final that ended in victory for TRILLUS. Today, GELLENTHIEN easily took revenge, winning his berth to the gold medal match, 147-140. In the other semi-final, Reo WILDE (USA) was too strong for Martin DAMSBO of Denmark. After winning gold in Shanghai and silver in Antalya, DAMSBO will challenge TRILLUS for the bronze medal. The final between WILDE and GELLENTHIEN, who stole the world N°1 spot from his elder teammate, promises to be an exciting rematch of the last World Cup Final.
The recurve event was full of surprises. Olympic bronze medallist DAI Xiaoxiang defeated top qualifier and former world N°1 Brady ELLISON in quarter-finals, before edging out his less experienced teammate ZHANG Jianping. The second semi-final featured Luxembourg’s Jeff HENCKELS (photo) and Jean-Charles VALLADONT (FRA). The French archer qualified over Elias MALAVE (VEN) and French teammate Gaël PREVOST, who is the World Cup Final bronze medallist. HENCKELS upset Haziq Bazil BAKRI (MAS) and Olympic team champion Mauro NESPOLI (ITA) on his way to the semi-finals. It was VALLADONT who took the lead two times in this match, but HENCKELS came back, resulting in a one-arrow shoot-off. Both athletes scored 9s but HENCKELS’ arrow was closer to the centre. He will face DAI for the gold medal, and VALLADONT will shoot against ZHANG for the bronze.
“It’s great, I would never have thought I could do this”, confessed HENCKELS. “At the beginning I had some problems, I shot bad arrows but I managed to come back with a big surprise even for me at the end. I’ve nevertheless shown that I’m capable of shooting very good arrows, and it gives me a bit more confidence for Sunday. Then I’m in a make it or break it situation.”
On the recurve women’s side, Antalya winner CUI Yuanyuan (CHN) impressed once again. She outperformed her three Olympic silver medallist teammates CHENG Ming, FANG Yuting and XU Jing, who didn’t get past the quarter-finals. In the semi-finals, CUI met US Olympian Miranda LEEK, who had qualified over Antalya runner-up Deepika KUMARI (IND). The match was very close, and CUI took the lead 4-0, but the American came back at 4-4, and then the score moved to 5-5. Both archers scored a 9 in the shoot-off, but LEEK’s arrow was closer to the centre and therefore the winner.On the other side of the bracket, top Colombian archer Ana Maria RENDON shot her way into the semi-finals against Inna STEPANOVA (RUS), who had defeated top qualifier XU Jing. STEPANOVA took an early lead and though RENDON came back at 4-4, the Russian won the fifth set (29-27) and a spot in the final against LEEK. RENDON will shoot the bronze medal match against CUI. The finals of this event will be exceptionally important as they give athletes a critical opportunity to earn key points towards qualification for the World Cup Final.
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