2 April 2008 - The 2008 World Cup started with a World Record!

The 2008 World Cup started with a World Record! Santo Domingo, 2 April 2008
This morning in Santo Domingo the Qualification Rounds of the Meteksan World Cup Stage 1 started! The Recurve Women and Compound Men shot their 72 arrows in a 70 meter Round, which is the usual format in even years. Erdyniyeva (RUS) confirmed her great 2007 season taking first place in Recurve Women with 649 points, while Clifton (NZL) created a big surprise in Compound Men. Finally, the American Compound Men Team achieved an outstanding new World Record!
The archers shoot two halves of 36 arrows at a target 70 meters away during qualifications.
Recurve Women Erdyniyeva tallied 649 points. She was the best archer in the first half with 335 and the sixth archer in the second half with 314. It started to rain during the latter part which explains a drop in the recurve women’s performances. The ladies are less powerful (drawing of the bow) and their arrows don’t go through the rain as effectively. Tonetta (ITA) was actually the best archer in the second half. She scored 331 and 318 to tie the total of Erdyniyeva. The Russian had more 10-point arrows than the Italian (26 vs. 24), which gave her first place. Two other Italians followed. The World Champion Valeeva ranked 3rd with 639 pts, just one point ahead of team-mate Lionetti. Two experienced archers continue the ranking: Williamson (GBR) had a nice performance with 637, one more point than Wu (TPE). There were some surprises on 7th to 10th ranking: Roman (MEX), Rendon (COL), Folkard (GBR) and Esebua (GEO). One of the favourites, Schuh (FRA) lost a lot of points in the rain and ended 28th place. The 2007 World Cup Winner, Banerjee (IND) had a terrible start and is currently 41st.

On the Team side, Italy leads the ranking with 1926 points (the total of the three archers), followed by Russia, 1892, and Great Britain, 1889.
Compound Men There is a bunch of the best of the world archers competing in Santo Domingo. However, it is the 20-year old Clifton (NZL), number 62 in the world, who topped the qualifications with 705 points. This category is the one that would be less affected by the rain and Clifton was pretty consistent scoring 351 and 354. Gellenthien was as accurate as usual with a 351 and 350 for 701 points. The World Champion Trillus (CAN) had 700 points and so did Elzinga (NED), Brasseur (FRA) and Cousins (USA). Three archers suffered in the second half. Damsbo (DEN) was the best in the first half with 352 pts, but only scored 344 in the second half to end at 9th place with 696 points. The 2007 World Cup Winner Jimenez (ESA) had 351 and a low 339. He finished 17th with 690 points. Celebrating his 28th birthday, the talented Hofer (SUI) also dropped to 25th place in the second half (348 and 337).

These qualifications promise some interesting match-ups when they start the head-to-head matches tomorrow. Potentially, Clifton could meet Jimenez. The winner would then play the winner of a Damsbo – Hofer match. Two other superb potential matches would feature Dos Santos (BRA) vs. Pagni (ITA) and Cousins (USA) vs. Wilde (USA).

On the Team ranking, Gellenthien, Cousins and Wilde smashed the World Record for the USA! They tallied a total of 2096 points, 14 more than the Netherlands did in 2004. The Americans are ahead of Australia, 2082 points, and Mexico, 2074.   The Men’s Recurve and Women’s Compound shoot their qualifications this afternoon.
Didier Miéville FITA Communication