20 August 2007 - Beijing Test Event: Ranking Round sets some superb matches!

Ranking Round sets some superb matches! Beijing - 20 August 2007   The archers competed in the ranking round today at the Olympic Green Archery Field. The competition ranked all the individuals and the teams to set up the up-coming matches during the week.   All the archers shot 72 arrows at the 70-meter distance today. The women started at noon and the men at 3.30 pm. The teams’ results are the total of three individual members in a team.    KIM Ha-Neul (AUS)    Recurve Men Individual An Australian, originally born in Korea, topped the men’s ranking round. KIM “Sky” Ha-Neul was tied with LEE Chang Hwan (KOR) at 678 points. They also both reached the 10 ring 38 times, but KIM shot 13 X-ring compared to LEE’s 9. The X-ring is the little inner circle of only 6.1 centimetres. It does not give more points, but it can serve as tie-breaker.   In 3rd place, came the new Korean team-member KIM Yeon Chul with 674 points, just one better than his team-mate, recent World Champion IM Dong Hyun.   The number 1 in the FITA World Ranking, Baljinima TSYREMPILOV (RUS) ranked 5th with 671 points, ahead of the bronze medallist of the 1992 Olympic Games, Simon TERRY (GBR) who achieved 669 points. They preceded two Japanese, Takaharu FURUKAWA and Ryota AMANO.   If we were at the 2008 Olympics, some archers would now face a very difficult task ahead of them in the matches to come.   The Olympic Champion Marco GALIAZZO will play the formidable Chinese YONG Fu Jun in the first round. He could then face KUO Cheng-Wei (TPE) in the second round and then one of two young raising stars: WANG Cheng-Pang (TPE) or Crispin DUENAS (CAN). These are three tough matches for GALIAZZO and it would only get more difficult in the quarter-finals.   The unlucky man in Athens, 4th-placed Larry GODFREY (GBR) plays Andrey ABRAMOV (RUS) in the first round. He could then face the veteran Italian di BUO and number 1 seed, KIM.   TSYREMPILOV should face the winner of Luis Eduardo VELEZ SANCHEZ (MEX) – Markiyan IVASHKO (UKR) in the second round. In the same part of the draw, the number 4 seed, IM should face the most dangerous man in match-play archery: Alan WILLS (GBR)!   If he would like to repeat a YAMAMOTO type performance in Athens, the veteran TERRY would have to beat archers like Bair BADENOV (RUS) or Victor WUNDERLE (USA), Magnus PETERSSON (SWE) and KIM Y.C. in the quarter-final.   The last part of the bracket isn’t easy either with Ryuchi MORIYA (JPN), Juan Rene SERRANO GUTIERREZ (MEX), Michele FRANGILLI (ITA) and LEE.   Recurve Men Team No surprise there, as the Koreans dominated the field with 2025 points, just 6 points off the World Record. A bit less than 40 points behind came Japan, then Russia, Australia and Italy. In fifth and sixth place were Malaysia and the USA, surprisingly ahead of Poland and Great Britain.   In the match play, the number 4 seed Australia and the number 5 seed Italy will be worried about their first round opponent, respectively Chinese Taipei and Canada. They also have Poland, Great Britain and the favourite Korea in their part of the bracket.   The second part of the bracket seems more open. China, seeded No. 11, will try to take advantage of it. They play Malaysia in the first round and could go on to meet the Russian Federation. The USA, Ukraine and Japan have their chances in the other part.      Justyna MOSPINEK (POL)Recurve Women Individual Justyna MOSPINEK from Poland created the surprise today topping the Koreans. She finished with 675 points and was particularly impressive with her first 36 arrows scoring 342 points. The Koreans PARK Sung-Hyun and CHOI Eun Young could never catch up with MOSPINEK and reached 2nd and 3rd place with respectively 668 and 664 points.   Tied with 657 points were Viktoriya KOVAL (UKR) and Berengere SCHUH (FRA) who broke the French record. SCHUH actually ranked 4th thanks to a greater amount of 10s. Indoor World Champion 2007, Nami HAYAKAWA (JPN), achieved 6th place with 656 pts. The recent Pan-American Champion, Jennifer NICHOLS (USA) took the 7th place with 655 pts and Kristine ESEBUA (GEO) earned the 8th seed.   A few favourites achieved a lower rank than expected: LEE Tuk Young was 11th, Zhang Juan Juan 13th, Natalya Erdynyeva (RUS) 20th, and Malgorzata CWIENCZEK (POL) 22nd.   Now, imagine that we are one year later at the Olympic Games and look at some superb matches that this Ranking Round would be offering us.   In the second round, the number 1 seed, MOSPINEK, could face the Athens Bronze medallist Alison WILLIAMSON (GBR). The winner would go on and meet the raising Italian star Elena TONETTA (ITA).   Another second round clash should take place between ZHANG and ERDYNYEVA. The winner would then go on to play the No. 4 seed, SCHUH. KOVAL and Naomi FOLKARD (GBR) are also in the same quarter of the bracket.   Yet another second round blockbuster could take place with LEE against CWIENCZEK. The winner would then face HAYAKAWA and probably CHOI.   The last quarter of the bracket seems a bit easier for PARK but she will stay on guard if she meets Iwona MARCINKIEWICZ (POL) or NICHOLS. To note the three Koreans archers are in the same part of the bracket and only one can reach the final.   Recurve Women Team With 1979 points, Korea led the way ahead of Poland with 1958 points. The USA was 20 points behind (1938), while the gap in between teams diminished later on with Georgia taking a surprising 4th place. The Georgians preceded power houses such as Chinese Taipei, China, the Russian Federation and France.   The bracket gives a very interesting match-up in the first round with the recent bronze medallist at the World Championships, Great Britain, versus China. The Russian Federation – Japan match should also be close. The winner will meet the No. 2 seed, Poland, in the next round.   In the other part of the bracket, Italy will try to give a hard time to Chinese Taipei. France will have a difficult opponent with Ukraine and, for the winner it will only get more difficult. They may meet Korea in the quarter final.   The Women’s Team event, all the way to the gold medal, will take place tomorrow!   Who will win the first medals?   Didier Miéville FITA Communication