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Recurve final fours decided in Chengdu with both defending champions in the mix

12 August 2025

Chengdu, China

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A day of eliminations on the field course at Qinglong Lake Park saw the recurve fields of 11 women and 12 men brought down to the final fours at the Chengdu 2025 World Games.

Both defending champions, Chiara Rebagliati and Florian Unruh, are through to the semifinals.

On another hot and humid day in Chengdu, the six-target field had the distances altered every two matches to ensure fair competition.

The top two women’s seeds, Elisa Tartler and Denisa Barankova, opened the day with an exhibition match. While both were already placed in the semifinals tomorrow, the winner got to decide which half of the draw they would face.

Barankova won and chose the second half, where she will meet fifth seed Roberta Di Francesco of Italy. Di Francesco dominated her match against Slovenia’s Urska Cavic, 88-78, and then saw off Great Britain’s Bryony Pitman – the fourth seed and silver medallist at Birmingham 2022 – with a score of 85-82.

Tartler will face the defending champion from Birmingham, third seed Rebagliati, who came through her match against Eleanor Brug of Canada, 83-79, with vocal support from the Italian contingent in the stands.

“I was very nervous,” said the Italian. “But arrow by arrow, I tried to be quiet and finish in a good way. I hope tomorrow to be stronger. [To defend the title] is what I really want, and I’ve been thinking about it since I left Italy. I will keep fighting until the last.”

The top men’s seeds, Matteo Borsani and defending champion Unruh, also shot an exhibition match, won by Borsani 95-91 – the Italian producing the highest score on the board all day.

Unruh will face fourth seed Patrick Huston, the bronze medallist at the Yankton 2022 World Archery Field Championships, who saw off Australia’s Ryan Tyack, 88-85, despite a slight wobble on the sixth and final target.

Borsani will face the Netherlands’ Willem Bakker, who only just squeaked through against the most surprising competitor of the day – 16-year-old Cui Jingxuan of China. The teenager first gave the home crowd something to cheer with a win over Belgium’s Jelle Daman.

Cui was two points ahead of Bakker on called score after the sixth target, but upgrades, downgrades and a recheck by the judges saw the Dutchman eventually pip him by a single point.

“It feels weird,” said Bakker on the confusion over scores. “I still won, but I don’t feel like I did.”

“I have a lot of respect and empathy for the Chinese athlete. I know the win was fair, but I also understand how tough it must feel on his side. We had a great time together during the unmarked round, and I consider him a friend. I hope he can walk away from this with his head high, knowing he’s a great archer and competitor.”

The recurve competition concludes tomorrow with the finals, followed by the barebow competition beginning Thursday.

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