22 March 2006 - Surprises and upsets at team European Indoors

Surprises and upsets at team European Indoors

Lausanne - 22 March 2006

The 2006 European Indoor Archery Championships in Jaén, Spain ended last Saturday with Ukraine (RM), Turkey (RW), Denmark (CM) and Russia (CW) each collecting a new continental title in the team finals.

The biggest surprise was the Turkish female team becoming European Champion in the recurve division. Natalia Nasariaze, Derya Sarialtin and Damla Gunay defeated team Ukraine in a very close and exciting final (258-257). Germany finishes third after upsetting France by 260-254 in the bronze final.

Another surprising team was Denmark in the compound men category. The Danes, who did not have a team participating in this division in last year’s European Indoors in Sassari, Italy performed exceptionally well in Jaén this weekend winning gold before Italy and France.

In the recurve men division the Ukrainian team (2005 European indoor and World outdoor champion) successfully defended their title against the Italian stars Marco Galiazzo (2004 Olympic champion), Marco Rivolta (2006 European indoor champion) and Michele Frangilli (2003 World outdoor champion). France easily took the advantage over Russia for the bronze (160-256).

After two bronze medals won by their male compatriots (recurve and compound), the French compound women Valérie Fabre, Françoise Volle and Amandine Bouillot (2005 World outdoor and European indoor champions) suffered a big upset finishing only fourth. In this division, it is Russia, Italy and Spain who win the gold, silver and bronze medals respectively.

All results and more can be found on www.jaen2006.com

Ludivine Maitre Wicki

FITA Communication