4 April 2007 - Two Iranians go through to the individual semi-finals

Two Iranians go through to the individual semi-finals Ulsan – 4 April 2007      Camilla Soemod (DEN) struggling with the wind!  Today the qualified Compound archers (first 64 in each division) took the field in Ulsan for the second time of the week with one aim in mind: reach the semi-finals and win the right to shoot on Friday. However, not only did they have to deal with their direct opponents –each archer shooting 12 arrows in face-to-face matches– but also with a strong, swirling and freezing wind! The Iranian archers took advantage of such difficult conditions qualifying two archers -one woman and one man for the semi-finals.   Compound Men One of the first favourite competitors to leave the competition early today was Morgan Lundin in the Compound Men division. The reigning Outdoor World Champion lost to Sergio Pagni of Italy in the second round after shooting an unusual low score (96-113). In this round third seed Dominique Genet (FRA) shot a perfect additional arrow shoot-off (10 points) to defeat his opponent from the Philippines, Enrique Jr Cojuangco.   The third round gave rise to surprises with top seed Martin Damsbo (DEN) being kicked off by the Iranian Reza Zamaninejad (109-113) and fourth seed Patrick Coghlan (AUS) losing to his team-mate Clint Freeman (105-112). For this part, the French Genet was having a strong match, facing 2006 World Cup Winner Reo Wilde. The American, who finished at the disappointing 14th rank in the qualifications, was not looking as strong as last year and finally had to leave a 3-point victory to his opponent (108-111). Reo Wilde was then only left to support his younger brother Logan who managed to thread to the quarterfinals, beating Malaysian Soo Teck Kim and British Andy Rikunenko on the way.   Second seed Jorge Jimenez (ESA) faced no real opposition in his match to British Liam Grimwood (112-102). It seems that nothing can disturb the Salvadorian World Cup bronze medallist, not even the cold temperature of Ulsan: “The weather does not seem to bother tropical Jimenez”, noticed George Tekmitchov, the official presenter during his quarterfinal he won 110-101 to Sergio Pagni (ITA). Being through to the individual semi-finals on Friday, there is no doubt Jimenez will be a real threat to Fred Van Zutphen -his next opponent from the Netherlands- and one of the favourites in this year’s World Cup.   Shabani Akram and Reza Zamaninejad (IRI)    Sixth seed Van Zutphen was facing the third seed Genet in this round. This was for sure going to be a tight match between the two archers. The Dutch was the one starting better, leading by two points after each of the first three ends. With only three arrows to go, the winner was still unsure… but although coming back by one point at the very last moment (109-110), the 39-year old French had to leave the match to his junior by 3 years all the same.   Genet’s team-mate, Sebastien Brasseur, thought of having made hardest in the first end of his match against the Iranian Reza Zamaninejad. Leading by five points (28-23) after his opponent shot a 5 with his third arrow, Brasseur saw his opponent get closer and closer... After three ends, Zamaninejad was only one point behind and added pressure shooting 9-10-10 with his last arrows. The French finished with a disastrous 7-8-9 series leaving the Iranian team explode of joy!   “I’m very happy with my shooting! Before coming here I was not feeling confident, but when I started shooting, I just thought about my way of shooting and forgot every other thing. I told myself “just do your best” and everything has been going great for me”, said Zamaninejad after being congratulated by his coach and compatriots for his 109-105 victory, thus qualifying for Friday’s semi-finals with Jimenez, Genet and Logan Wilde, who had just defeated Australian Clint Freeman (110-109).   Compound Women The wind is probably the worst opponent of archers and even some of the best archers could not resist to the gusts today. In the second round, three of the top seeds went out. Second seed Jahna Davis (USA) could not help shooting a 5 and finally lost the game by one point. She was very disappointed after her loss vs Namita Yadav (IND), 98-99 points. Fourth seed Camilla Soemod (DEN) was a little more philosophic after loosing 103-106 to Nicky Hunt (GBR). The Danish said: “We both had to wait for the wind to calm down to shoot our last arrow. My arm was fully extended for a long time, and then I started shaking. I could not see the target in my visor anymore… It had to be the same for her. However, I shot a 4 and I believe she shot a 10. That was the difference; it is also a bit of bad luck for me. It’s too bad because I am used to the wind in Denmark”. Number 5 Korean Seo Jung Hee also went out in the second round.      Sofia Goncharova (RUS) and her coach Two of the biggest favourites did eventually meet in the quarterfinals. Jamie Van Natta defeated fresh Indoor World Champion Eugenia Salvi (ITA) in the second round, 109-98 pts and met her biggest opponent of last year, Sofia Goncharova (RUS). The Russian won one more time (111-107 points), as Van Natta shot a bad second end (7-7-8) that was too much to overcome. Van Natta said: “Please don’t tell me that I can’t beat the Russians!" We beat them for the team gold in Izmir just two weeks ago. With this wind the luck factor increases a little. It could have been anybody’s game.”   The other Russian favourite, Anna Kazantseva also made it to the semi-finals, shooting very well on these conditions. She scored 109, 110 and 108 in her three matches and never seemed worried. The third Russian team-mate made it to the quarterfinal but had to bow 94-103 points versus a very surprising Indonesian F.A. Kusumaniah. The last semi-finalist is also a new comer at this level of competition: Shabani Akram from Iran! She beat Amaya Paz (PHI) in the quarter on the score of 109–101.   The semi-finals will take place on Friday morning: Goncharova (RUS)–Kusumaniah (INA) and Kazantseva (RUS)–Akram (IRI) in the women division; Zamaninejad (IRI)-Wilde (USA) and Van Zutphen (NED)-Jimenez (ESA) in the men division. All the RESULTS See more PHOTOS  Ludivine Maitre Wicki / Didier Miéville FITA Communication