Two times Great Britain vs USA for the gold in compound and new world Record for USA

The team event of the Indoor World Championships 2009 was held on Saturday 7 March at the Sports Arena of Rzeszow. The team matches were shot until the semi-finals and the finals will take place on Sunday morning. While the juniors competed in the morning, the senior teams ventured onto the field in the afternoon. In the compound division, the two gold medals (women and men) will be decided between Great Britain and USA. It is noteworthy that the American female team set a new 24-arrow world record of 236 in their quarterfinal against Poland.  Recurve Men While Great Britain (seed no. 1) and USA (no. 2) had a bye and did not shoot in the first round (1/8 elimination), all other top teams advanced to the quarterfinal. The match between Spain and Italy was the most exciting. The Spaniards GOMEZ, MORILLO and RIERA took a 1-point advantage at the half-way mark (115-114), which they increased to 2 before the last end started (175-173). However, the Italians were unstoppable in the last series of six arrows, shooting five 10s and a 9 to clinch the match by one point (232-231).   The best score in the quarterfinal was the work of team GBR shot by the experienced PEART, TERRY and WILLS. Thanks to their 235-point grand total, they rather easily defeated the Russians BADENOV, MALISHEVSKIY and TSYREMPILOV. “We took a couple of ends to warm-up and then we got into the right rhythm. Now we are ready and we are waiting for the Italians in the next match,” WILLS said after the match. The other teams that qualified for the semi-finals were Mexico (vs Poland) and USA (vs Ukraine).   In semi-final, Great Britain (1) and Italy (4) had to go to a shoot-off to decide the winner. Both teams were tied at 234 points each. Then, Italy scored 29 with their three additional arrows and clinched victory, as Great Britain could not do better than 25. In the second semi-final between Mexico (3) and USA (2), the youngsters LASTRA, SERRANO and VELEZ SANCHEZ gave a hard time to three-time Olympian WUNDERLE and his teammates ELLISON and HOLMES. Before the last six arrows, the Mexicans trailed by only one point, 176-177. But in the last end, they only scored 54 points, while their opponents shot 57. USA faces Italy for gold on Sunday, and Mexico will battle for bronze with Great Britain.   Recurve Women In the first elimination round, the no. 11 seed team USA upset no. 6 Mexico photo 226-224. “The final score is right according to our training standard. We shot a lot of 10s, we were happy with our result. In the third end, we were winning, but then we shot three times 7 and the match was over,” Aida ROMAN analysed after her team’s loss.   In quarterfinal, the no. 2 seed Italy had a hard time going against Spain, no. 7. The two teams finished the match on a tie at 227 points each. In the tie-break, LIONETTI, TONETTA and VALEEVA scored 30 points against 29 for BUITRON, CABRERON and FOULON. Victory hanged by a thread, since LIONETTI released her last arrow only a few seconds before the clock and Spain’s last arrow was only one millimetre out of the 10 ring!   The no. 1 seed Germany only just won 231-230 against no. 8 Poland in the quarterfinal. The two teams were tied at 115-115 and then 170-170, POSSNER, RICHTER and WINTER managed to take a 1-point advantage at the end. The other semi-finalists with Italy and Germany are Russia (no. 5) and Ukraine (3).   A shoot-off was needed to decide on the winner between Ukraine (3) and Italy (2) in the first semi-final match. The two teams tied 227-227 after 24 arrows. In the tie-break, led by four-time indoor world champion VALEEVA, the Italians had a very strong shooting with 29 out of a possible 30. Their opponents were defeated without having anything to be ashamed of, finishing the match with 28-points in the shoot-off. In the second semi-final, the no. 1 seed Germany easily took over no. 5 Russia, 228-218.  Compound Men No surprises in the 1/8 eliminations with all top seeded teams qualifying for the second round. In quarterfinal, the no. 5 seed Spain defeated no. 4 Italy 235-231. The top two teams, USA and France, defeated Switzerland (234-230) and Finland (237-232) on a comfortable margin. Only Great Britain (no. 3) was given a hard time by Denmark (6) and clinched the victory with a 1-point advantage (236-235).   The two compound men’s semi-finals were very tight between USA (1) and Spain (5) on one hand and France (2) and Great Britain (3) on the other hand. In the first match, BEAUBOUEF, BROADWATER—who will face each other in the individual gold final on Sunday—and GELLENTHIEN had a hard time against a surprising Spanish team. They were tied with CANALEJAS, CATALAN and RODRIGUEZ at 117 at the half-way mark but took a 3-point lead before the last end. However, the American advantage came down to only 1 and they finally got out of it victorious, 234-233.   In the second semi-final, the British BINGHAM, BUSBY and RIKUNENKO defeated the Frenchmen BRASSEUR, DELOCHE and GENET 233-231 to fight for the world title on Sunday.   Compound Women In the compound women’s quarterfinal, ANSCHUTZ, HAMM and LARSON photo set a new world record for the 24-arrow match with a 236 grand total (previous record was 233, also set by USA back in the 2007 Indoor World Championships). USA easily defeated Poland to advance to the semi-final. The no. 3 seed British were close to defeat in their match against Turkey (227-226). The other top teams Russia (2) and Italy (4) also passed through the quarterfinals.   In the semi-final, the experienced Russian team of GONCHAROVA, KAZANTSEVA and LOGINOVA (2) was upset by the British ladies after a shoot-off. BINGHAM, HOLDERNESS and HUNT united with three perfect 10s in the tie-break to defeat their opponents who “only” scored on 10 and two 9s.   The second semi-final match grappled together USA (1) and Italy (4). The top seeded Americans took an early lead which they kept increasing to clinch an easy victory 235-228.   Let’s meet tomorrow for all the finals as of 9:00 am to 1:40 pm and then from 15:45. These World Championships will come to a close around 8:00 pm after all the medal ceremonies.   FITA Communication