22 October 2006 - World Cup Semi-Finals Live Review

World Cup Semi-Finals Live Review Mayapan / Merida – 22 October 2006   Photo (c) www.dutchtarget.com : Qian Jialing (CHN) Compound Women – Jamie Van Natta (USA) vs. Sofia Goncharova (RUS) For the first match of this Archery World Cup Grand Final, the 28-year old American is facing Sofia Goncharova who has won three World Cup Series in a row this year (Antalya, San Salvador and Shanghai). She is no doubt the favorite in the Compound Women competition. Although she was trailing by only one point after 11 arrows, Van Natta missed the target with her last arrows and leave victory to her Russian opponent (111-100). Goncharova will shoot for the 1st place this afternoon while Van Natta will fight for bronze.   Compound Women – Anna Kazantseva (RUS) vs. Jahna Davis (USA) It will be a 100% Russian match for gold and a 100% American match for gold in this category!!! Anna Kazantseva has just defeated Jahna Davies in the second semi-final. The final score is 113-109.   Compound Men – Dave Cousins (USA) vs. Peter Elzinga (NED) Peter Elzinga took his good chance in Mayapan today! Although ranked behind his opponent of the day – Dave Cousins in the World Cup Ranking, the Dutch archer has benefited from some bad arrows (a 7 and two 8s) in this semi-final match. More consistent with only 9s and 10s, Elzinga defeated Cousins with a 3-point lead (113-110) to win the right to shoot for gold this afternoon.   Compound Men – Jorge Jimenez (ESA) vs. Reo Wilde (USA) At least there will be another American in the gold medal match against Peter Elzinga this afternoon. Facing Jorge Jimenez from El Salvador in the second Compound Men semi-final, Reo Wilde has achieved an amazing score with 118 points (out of 120 possible). Though shooting an excellent match with 115, Jimenez could only congratulate his opponent for being the best on this match.   Recurve Women – Elena Tonetta (ITA) vs. Qian Jialing (CHN) After a very good start – 28 points out of 30 in the first end - the 18-year old Italian Elena Tonetta could not keep this high level for the rest of the match shooting 25-26-26 ends. The Chinese Qian Jialing, although the same age as her opponent proved her two World Cup victories this year (Antalya and San Salvador) were not a piece of luck. Starting slow but then shooting very strong ends (25-29-27-28), she clinched the match with a 4-point advantage (109-105).   Recurve Women – Alison Williamson (GBR) vs. Zhang Juan Juan (CHN The second semi-final in the Recurve Women category gave rise to a very tight duel between British Alison Williamson – Bronze medalist at the 2004 Olympic Games – and Chinese Zhang Juan Juan. Tied after the first end (26-26), it is Zhang who took the lead in the second after Williamson shot a bad 7-point arrow. Trailing by 1 point and then by 2, the British experienced archer had finally to leave victory to her 10 years younger opponent on 106-105.   Recurve Men – Park Kyung-Mo (KOR) vs. Magnus Petersson (SWE) In the semi-final of the Recurve Men category, the Swedish archer Magnus Petersson – ranked 2nd at the first World Cup Series in Porec and recent European Champion in Athens – was led by his Korean opponent all the way from the ery first arrow. At the end Park Kyung-Mo defeated Petersson with a comfortable 5-point advantage (109-104).   Recurve Men – Ilario Di Buo (ITA) vs. Jayanta Talukdar (IND) A series of three 8s in the second end took away all hopes for the Indian archer Jayanta Talukdar to make it to the gold final of this year’s World Cup. Although he was tied with Ilario Di Buo of Italy after the first end of the match (27-27), Talukdar was then behind by 3 points after the two following ends (52-54/80-83). Shooting three excellent last arrows (10-10-9), he could still hope to trail back, but Di Buo made experience speak shooting three 9s to keep a 1-point lead, enough to win the match (110-109).   Ludivine Maitre Wicki FITA Communication