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Robin RAMAEKERS (main photo) won his first major title one week short of his 19th birthday. After beating tough opponents in the elimination rounds, the Belgian archer started impressively in the final against n°39 Kacper SIERAKOWSKI (POL). He scored a majority of 10s to lead through the first three sets comfortably: 2-0, 3-1, 5-1… And even though he lost the fourth, a final-series 9-10-10 brought victory, 7-3.
The gold medal comes shortly after RAMAEKERS made his World Cup debut in August in Wroclaw - and showed potential by reaching the quarter-finals. SIERAKOWSKI, 19, also climbed the international podium for the first time.
Ukrainian Vitaliy KOMONYUK and surprise n°22 Galsan BAZARZHAPOV - team champion this morning - disputed the bronze medal. The experience of the 20-year-old KOMONYUK - active on the junior scene since 2009 and already a medallist - spoke against the 18-year-old Russian newcomer in international competition. Despite a perfect start of 10-10-10, BAZARZHAPOV let his opponent back into the match. After ties at 3-3 and 4-4, the Ukrainian archer won the final set - 9-10-9 to 9-9-8 - and the bronze medal.
After unexpectedly losing the team gold to Ukraine this morning, the three Korean junior women swept the individual podium in their first international event. JEON Sungeun (photo) won two sets to start her all-Korea final with SIM Yeji, to lead 4-0. SIM fought back: 2-4, 3-5 and 5-5, forcing a shoot-off. It was for nothing, though: JEON won the shoot-off, 10-9.
The match between LIM Heeseon and 2010 European bronze medallist Begünhan Elif UNSAL (TUR) was equally as close. The first set was tied - and though LIM took the lead a couple of times, UNSAL always managed to draw the score. At 5-5, in the shoot-off, LIM confidently placed an arrow in the 10. UNSAL shot a 9, confirming Korean gold, silver and bronze.
In the mixed team final, KIM Joo Wan and SIM Yeji (photo), the top recurve junior qualifiers, successfully defended Korea’s world champion title. They outscored surprising n°11 Spain in every end of the final, for a comfortable win: 150-137. SIM Yeji’s medal tally increased to three: one gold and two silvers. Miguel ALVARINO and Mirene ETXEBERRIA’s silver medal is the Spain's first in this event.
The Russian pair of Kristina TIMOFEEVA and new team champion Bolot TSYBZHITOV won the bronze medal with a ten-point victory over the United States.
Junior finals complete, the World Youth Championships drew to a close. In total, 21 countries left the event with a medal, more than the 15 at Ogden 2009 and 18 at Legnica 2011, an increase that shows the development of archery worldwide. Korea and Russia won the most gold medals - both with three world champion titles. Korea led the medal table with nine medals (3 gold, 3 silver, 3 bronze) ahead of Russia (3, 2, 1) and the United States (2, 4, 1).
Go to the full medal table and the complete results.
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