23 August 2007 - Beijing Test Event: Quotes of Day 5 – Recurve Women Eliminations

Olympic Test Event – Quotes of Day 5 – Recurve Women Eliminations Beijing – 23 August 2007   Recurve Women   Comments from Ana Maria RENDON (COL) after CHOI Eun Young’s (KOR) victory over RENDON in the Women’s Individual 1/16 Elimination on Thursday.  RENDON Ana Maria (COL) - Archer On her feelings on competing against CHOI: “My opponent is one of the best in the international women’s archery, so it was a tough match for me. But it was a good chance to take part in this test event and improve in every aspect, especially to gain more experience.”   On how to adjust her game when her opponent shot five x-rings in a row: “I was neither too calm nor too nervous. I told myself to just concentrate on the match and see what I could do.”   On how her coach advice after her opponent shot five x-rings in a row: “He told me to keep my breathing, calm down and concentrate on taking the shots one by one.”   Comments from CHOI Eun Young (KOR) after CHOI’s victory over Ana Maria RENDON (COL) in the Women’s Individual 1/16 Elimination on Thursday.   CHOI Eun Young (KOR) - Archer On the five 10-point arrows in a row: "I didn’t think too much about that because I just care about my performance and concentrate on the shooting."   On her expectations in the Women’s Individual competition: "I don’t think I have any specific goal in this test event. All I want is merely to perform well and better than before, to reach my personal best."   Comments from HAYAKAWA Nami (JPN) and Karen SCAVOTTO (USA) after SCAVOTTO’s victory over HAYAKAWA in the Women’s Individual 1/16 Elimination on Thursday.   HAYAKAWA Nami (JPN) - Archer On reasons for losing the match: "I was very nervous because this was the first time I shot in Court A and was watched by so many spectators."   On the opponent Karen SCAVOTTO (USA): “She is very calm today and performed very well.”   On weather today: “It’s windy today, and the wind direction at the shooting position is different from that of the target place, therefore I had to judge by the flag in front of the target. The wind did affect my performance.”  SCAVOTTO Karen (USA) - Archer On winning the match “I am happy to win and I can go to the next round.”   On the opponent: “She is a very great competitor and shot well today.”   On whether she felt pressure competing against HAYAKAWA who was ranked no.6 rank in the ranking round: "Not at all. What happens, happens. Today is a new day and the match is a new match. When I was shooting, I didn’t think about anything else and I didn’t pay much attention to my opponent either."   On the wind today: “I didn’t even notice it. I just focused on the shot.”   Comments from Malgorzata CWIENCZEK (POL) after CWIENCZEK’s victory over LEE Tuk Young in the Women’s Individual 1/16 Elimination on Thursday.   CWIENCZEK Malgorzata (POL) - Archer On the opponent: "She is ranked above me, but I think we are on the same level, and we (the Polish team) know everything of archery that they (the Korean team) know."   On whether she will win a medal: “Maybe, and this is my plan. But more importantly an Olympic medal next year is my goal.”   Comments from Jennifer NICHOLS (USA) after her victory over HAIDN-TSCHALOVA Veronika (GER) in the Women’s Individual 1/16 Elimination on Thursday.   NICHOLS Jennifer (USA) - Archer On how she managed to pass her opponent when she was one point behind after the first end: “I was totally not aware of that. I was concentrating on my own shooting and fighting for my own goal.”   On whom she worried about meeting most on her way to the final: “Actually, I’m not worried about anyone. The thing I am worried about is how I shoot, because I can’t control my opponents. That’s really not in my hands. Whatever happens, I will just try my best.”   On the wind: “It’s really windy in Beijing. But fortunately I have been training a lot in such windy weather conditions. We have lots of wind in the place I came from, too.”   On the qualification for the 2008 Olympic Games: “We still need to qualify two places (right now she is the only American female archer who has earned one spot for her country) in order to complete our team. Our team will send two members to compete in El Salvador (Festival Olímpico de Tiro con Arco) in October.”   Comments from Veronika HAIDN-TSCHALOVA (GER) after Jennifer NICHOLS’s victory over HAIDN-TSCHALOVA in the Women’s Individual 1/16 Elimination on Thursday.   HAIDN-TSCHALOVA Veronika (GER) - Archer On how to tackle the strong wind: “Well definitely you need to have this kind of training in your regular schedule. Today the wind is pretty strong as well as the sun, particularly in the stadium, so that’s the difference today. I really need to learn how to tackle this in the future.”   On whether she is disappointed about being knocked out by such a strong opponent: “Definitely not. In fact I see it the other way around. This is merely a test event for the Olympics, so you always try to meet those world class archers and feel honoured about that.”   On the Olympic qualification: “Well I did take apart in the (World) Championships last month in Leipzig, but unfortunately I didn’t do it well. The qualification, I hope to gain in next year’s European Championships which takes place in May next year (in Vittel, France). It’s never easy; we have to compete for only 2 places. I really hope to be in Beijing next year when the Olympic Games come. (Germany has not yet qualified any female archer for the 2008 Olympics.)   Comments from PARK Sung-Hyun (KOR) after PARK’s victory over LIONETTI Pia Carmen (ITA) in the Women’s Individual 1/16 Elimination on Thursday.   PARK Sung-Hyun (KOR) - Archer On the windy and hot weather: “The heat and the strong wind don’t really matter to me."   On the tense match: “Everything was OK because I didn’t feel any pressure.”  On the stable nature of her performance: “I am in a good condition today and the result is satisfying.”   Comments from LIONETTI Pia Carmen after PARK Sung-Hyun’s victory over LIONETTI in the Women’s Individual 1/16 Elimination on Thursday.   LIONETTI Pia Carmen (ITA) - Archer On her feelings of competing against PARK: “She is very excellent and I’m very happy to compete with her. Unfortunately, I didn’t play well in the 3rd end and let her take the lead.”   On what happened in the 3rd end: “The wind flag kept rolling and I couldn’t identify the wind direction. The wind here is so strange. It always changes direction which is very different from Italy.”   On how they train in Italy: “The temperature is similar there, but the wind isn’t as strange as it is here. I usually trained in the woods behind my house. The trees keep the wind away.”   On how she adjusted herself in the 3rd end: “I tried to study the wind speed, watch the wind flag and calm myself down. But I couldn’t do much because the wind was out of my control.”   On her other interests: “I like reading and going to the cinema. But recently I am busy at work, so I don’t have much time to enjoy myself.”   Comments from Natalya ERDYNIYENA after ZHANG Juan Juan’s victory over ERDYNIYENA in the Women’s Individual 1/16 Elimination on Thursday.   ERDYNIYENA Natalya (RUS) - Archer On the final result: “I thought I would lose in this round. But when I shot my first three 10s in a row, I thought maybe I had a chance to win. ZHANG is really a very good archer.”   On the reason for her failure: “The wind was not blowing so strongly, but when it blew the archers began to think about it. It was wrong to think about it, so it was my mistake.”   On what she plans to do next during her time in China: “I will stay for a few days because tomorrow we will watch the men’s match and maybe some of our archers will reach the final.”   On this tournament in China: “I’m very happy with this tournament in China.”   Comments from ZHANG Juan Juan after her victory over ERDYNIYEVA Natalya in the Women’s Individual 1/16 Elimination on Thursday.   ZHANG Juan Juan (CHN) - Archer On the preparations before the match “The coach did not make any special arrangements, but I myself prepared for the match psychologically. I was quite confident about the 1/32 Elimination, because the opponent (Malaysian, ABU SAMAH Irza Hanie is rather weak. But I also anticipated that I would meet this Russian archer in the 1/16 Elimination, who is now ranked World No. 1. Therefore, I was fully prepared to have a fierce competition with her. It is pleasing that I have persevered to the end.”   On whether she believed she would win when Natalya shot a 6: “Not really. Archery is like this. The winner cannot be decided until the last arrow.”   On whether she did not fully perform in the 1/32 Elimination: “Honestly, there should be a period of adapting to the court. The opponent was rather weak in 1/32 Elimination (Malaysian, ABU SAMAH Irza Hanie (MAS), so I felt that I was not fully inspired. ”   On the windy weather: “It had some influence, but I felt better when I held the bow more tightly.”   On objectives in the further matches: “I will try my best and see how it goes.”   Comments from Viktoria KOVAL after KOVAL’s victory over Louise LAURSEN in the Women’s Individual 1/16 Elimination on Thursday.   KOVAL Viktoria (UKR) - Archer On the performance: “Today I shot as well as the day before yesterday in the Women’s Team competition, and I am pleased I got a good result in this match. I hope I can keep such a good form until the end of the competition to earn a higher place.”   On the 1 point shot by the Denmark opponent: “It is really bad for all archers, and in some sense that is a sudden-death shot but on the other hand, it is possible for me to shoot a better result (because the pressure is off).”   On the wind: “The wind here in Beijing is quite special and changes all the time. Accordingly I had to shoot a little bit to the left and then a bit to the right. Thanks to our coach’s training and instruction, I could handle the problem and do my best to perform well. Archery is a sport in which you need to use your brain.”  Comments from Louise LAURSEN after Viktoria KOVAL’s victory over LAURSEN in the Women’s Individual 1/16 Elimination on Thursday.   LAURSEN Louise (DEN) - Archer On the 1-point arrow: “It was just a bad shot. Nothing was wrong, only my technique and my finger.”   On preparation for the Olympics: “I’m a full-time archer. I train from 10:00 in the morning to 17:00 in the evening, and I have some physical training twice a week. Maybe later I’ll have some psychological training, but not at the moment.”   Comments from WU Hui Ju and Kristina ESEBUA after WU’s victory over ESEBUA in the Women’s Individual 1/16 Elimination on Thursday.   WU Hui Ju (TPE) - Archer On her feeling towards the game: “I was quite nervous before the game. Actually I have been nervous from the first round.”   On communications with her coach: “He just told me to shoot after observing the wind.”   On the wind factor: “The first shot was something like an experiment to test the wind direction, so the first shot might diverge.”   On the opponent’s two 6 points: “Maybe she was too nervous at that time. I had already given up hope but she shot a 6. So I thought I might take my chances and win against her.”   Comments from Justyna MOSPINEK and HE Ying after MOSPINEK’s victory over HE in the Women’s Individual 1/16 Elimination on Thursday.   MOSPINEK Justyna (POL) - Archer On wining the match: “I had a whole day free yesterday and had a good rest in the hotel. It was not easy for me to win the match today. But after my opponent shot 5 points on one arrow, I calmed down and felt stronger.”   On the opponent HE Ying: “She shot well, but the mistake of the 5-point decided the result.”   On the comparison of this test event with the 2007 Leipzig Outdoor Archery World Championships in July: “Before the World Championships, we trained a lot. We come to Beijing this time mainly to see the weather and the fields.”   HE Ying (CHN) - Archer On whether the change of time between matches (from 15 minutes to 12 minutes) influenced her performance: “I think so. I had no time to have a rest after a round. I just finished the 1/32 and then I had to go to 1/16 immediately.”   On whether the 5 point arrow was also affected by the change of time between matches: “Maybe a little bit, however, the main reason is that I need more training.”   On the goal for the 2008 Games: “I want to win gold medal.”   News Service “Good Luck Beijing”