25 August 2007 - Beijing Test Event: Kim “Sky” could reach Olympia next year

Kim “Sky” could reach Olympia next year! Beijing - 25 August 2007   The new Australian archer, KIM, made the show today and won the tie-break of the Beijing Test Event’s final at the third arrow! He defeated CHENG from Malaysia. This would have been an amazing Olympic Final! The bronze medal match was also sumptuous with another tie-break. FURUKAWA (JPN) beat another promising archer, GIROUILLE (FRA), to take bronze.   For the first time in the week, the rain on top of tricky wind was awaiting the archers on Sunday morning. It looked the organizers wanted to test all conditions. The Recurve Men Individual competition continued only on Court A with the 1/8 eliminations all the way to the gold medal match. The archers kept shooting four ends of three arrows. They alternate to shoot each arrow and have 30 seconds each time.     Rafal DOBROWOLSKI (POL)1/8 eliminations The wind and rain seemed to blow a few of the archers off course as, incredibly enough, the morning saw the entire Korean men’s team wiped from the medals run following outright wins for Romain GIROUILLE (FRA) over IM Dong Hyun (KOR), 111-108, and CHENG Chu Sian (MAS) over KIM Yeon Chul (KOR), 107-106. LEE Chang Hwan (KOR) took his match to a tie break (105-105) but couldn’t hold on and lost after he only managed to score a 9 to the Polish Rafal DOBROWOLSKI’s perfect 10.   Simon TERRY (GBR) knocked out Jacek PROK (POL) in this round (110-103).   Chinese archer JIANG Lin entered into Sunday’s 1/8 round, only to be slightly bettered by FURUKAWA Takahara (JPN) on a T9-T8 tie break after the match ended 104-104 leaving no more local talents for the host nation in the tournament.   Quarter Final The rain had eased off in the afternoon, in time for Simon TERRY (GBR) to meet with CHENG Chu Sian (MAS) in the first quarter final. TERRY produced an unfortunate first of the tournament, completely missing the target for one of his arrows and giving the match to CHENG 112-99.   CHENG Chu Sian (MAS)  Two other quarter finals gave a taste of the great matches to come! GIROUILLE and Brady ELLISON (USA) were close to one another the whole match: 26-26, 52-53, 81-81 and 110-110, both finishing with the same arrows 10-9-10. In the tie-break however, only GIROUILLE could reach the 10, ELLISON the 9. The other match was a very high scoring affair, 114 a piece for FURUKAWA (JPN) and DOBROWOLSKI (POL). Again, only one reached the 10 ring the tie-break. FURUKAWA 10, DOBROWOLSKI, 9.   The last quarter saw the qualification of KIM Ha-Neul (AUS), nicknamed Sky, against WANG (TPE), 110-108.   Semi Final CHENG then went through to face FURUKAWA in the semi final in which the Malaysian secured his place in the final (111-108). KIM played a tighter match against GIROUILLE: 27-28, 54-55, 83-82, and a victory 111-110.   Bronze Medal Final The bronze medal match was a close affair between GIROUILLE and FURAKAWA, ending in two extra arrows after the archers both shot 112. FURUKAWA was shooting well (seven 10s) and leading 87-84 but finished with a 7-7-9 that allowed GIROUILLE to come back with 10-8-10. In the tie-break, the first shot of each archer hit 10 and as the audience held their breath GIROUILLE then shot 9 to FURAKAWA’s 10, leaving the Japanese archer with the bronze thanks to a third win in a tie-break today!    KIM Ha-Neul (AUS), nicknamed "Sky"Gold Medal Final KIM originally from Korea, but now competing with a lot of passion for Australia produced a spectacular finish to the tournament in Beijing. CHENG and KIM were tied at 111-111 at the end of the 12 arrows. KIM was leading 84-82, but a triple 9 in the last end gave an opening to CHENG to tie the match with 10-9-10. The tie break then required each archer to shoot the maximum three arrows each before the gold medallist finally emerged. Perfect 10s by both archers in the first two shots took it to the very last arrow, in which the flawless shooting of KIM secured him the glory, shooting another 10 to CHENG’s 9.   What a great and fitting end to the week of action in Beijing. The archers will now have less than a year to brush up their skills ready for the big event at next years Olympics.   Didier Miéville FITA Communication