3 May 2007 - Jimenez for a second victory?

Jimenez for a second victory? Varese - 3 May 2007   The compound archers started the elimination matches this Thursday morning through the semi-finals. Jimenez (ESA) went through one more time and will meet Indoor World Champion Gellenthien (USA) in the final Saturday. Another American, Van Natta, will meet Ericsson (SWE) on the women’s side.   At 10 am this morning, the compound archers took the field; They shot 12 arrows elimination matches (120 pts maximum). The recurve archers followed this afternoon.   Compound Men The interesting match of the 1/32 Eliminations was the one between Dos Santos (BRA) and Elzinga (NED), who already met last year in Antalya and Shanghai. It was a close match: in the first end Elzinga had a one point advance over the Brazilian, but in the second end, Dos Santos showed his strength and went over Elzinga to clinch the match 117-116 pts.   In the 1/16 Eliminations round, the first surprise came from the Danish Nielsen (ranked 33 in qualifications) who beat the number one seed Polman (NED) 114-110. Moreover, the 2006 World Cup Champion Reo Wilde (USA) was kicked out by Karsenty (ISR) 117-118. Sitar (SLO) and Titscher (GER) were tied 111-111. They went to a shoot-off (best arrow wins), but they needed two arrows to break the tie. The German shot 10-10, against 10-9 for Sitar. Genet (FRA) took over Van Zutphen (NED) 115-113. Another tied match was Cojuango (PHI) vs. Catalan (ESP) with a score of 113-113. In the shoot-off, the Philipino only shot a 9, while the Spanish reached the 10 ring. The last interesting match of the 1/16 Eliminations took place between the winner of the Meteksan Archery World Cup Stage 1, Jimenez (ESA), and the number 2 seed in Varese, Damsbo (DEN). After fighting rain and cold yesterday, Jimenez seemed unstoppable today and Damsbo was his second victim : 119-118 !   The next round, 1/8 Eliminations, was very exciting: five out of eight matches were either tied or clinched with one point difference! Brasseur (FRA) defeated Logan Wilde (USA) 115-114. Hofer (SUI) won against local Tosco 115-114. The match Haavisto (FIN) vs. Lundin (SWE) was tied in both ends (58-58 / 116-116) but the shoot-off 10 of Lundin gave him the victory. Another shoot-off happened between Villi (CRO) and Karsenty (ISR) who both scored 116 pts, but Karsenty’s willpower was stronger to hit the 10, against a 9 for Villi. Also tied with 116 pts on each side, Gellenthien (USA) defeated Genet (FRA) scoring a 10 in the shoot-off, while Genet only shot a 9.   What exciting quarter-finals we had today in the hippodrome le Bettole! With the top archers gathered, the battle for victory was hard with very close matches. The Brasseur (FRA) vs. Hofer match ended with the victory of the Swiss archer with a one point advantage 115-114. Lundin played against unbeatable Jimenez, who once more continued on his flow to clinch the match 115-114. The last two matches of this round were both tied even after the three arrows of the shoot-off. We had to measure the closest arrow to the centre. The winner of each match shot 1 cm closer than their opponent! Dos Santos won over Karsenty (114/10-9-9), and Gellenthien took over his team-mate Binger (115/10-10-9).   The semi-finals were also shot today, and we could follow very interesting matches. In the first one, Dos Santos against Gellenthien, was tied after the first two ends (58-58 / 87-87). However, Dos Santos could not keep this pace and finally lost 114-116. The second match between Hofer and Jimenez was slightly led by Jimenez from the beginning up to the end. The Salvadorian finally won a place in the gold medal match with a score of 115-114.   Compound Women New world record holder Bouillot (FRA) could not confirm today. She went out on her second match, losing to Akram (IRI) 112-114 pts. The Iranese was already in 4th place at the World Cup Stage 1 in Ulsan and will dispute another bronze medal final on Saturday. She survived a double shoot-off in her quarter-final. She was tied at 106 pts with Barckholt (AUT). They both shot a 9 in the first arrow of the shoot-off, but only Akram could hit the 10 circle in her second shot. The Austrian had nevertheless a good day since she won over both the Indoor World Champion, Salvi (ITA), and Outdoor European Champion, Soemod (DEN).   Another surprise came from Holderness (GBR) who reached the quarter-final beating Davis (USA) 113-111. However, Van Natta (USA) was “too much” in the quarter (112-114). Van Natta had some very consistent matches achieving scores of 115, 114, 114. She finally defeated Akram 112-109 in the semi-final.   Agudo (ESP) defeated Ulsan winner Kazantseva in the 1/8 Eliminations and then went on to meet Willems (BEL) in the quarter-final. However the Belgium carried over her magnificent shape from the qualifications beating Agudo 119-110 pts. Willems actually scored 115, 119 and 119 pts in her first three matches but could not hold it versus Ericsson (SWE) in the semi-final. The Swedish prevailed 113-108 pts. She had previously defeated Goncharova in a tight match: 28-27 pts after three arrows, 57-57 after six, 85-85 and a final score of 115-113 pts. Ericsson said: “It feels good! I am shooting well this year. Coming here, I hoped that I could reach the final, if I would stay focused. However, on a 12 arrows match, you are never sure. Can you believe that I beat the World Cup Final winner and a 1400 shooter to reach the final?”   Finals will take place on Saturday as of 9:30 am.   Chantal Steiner / Didier Miéville FITA Communication