5 April 2008 - Two Italians and two Americans Champions of the Meteksan Archery World Cup Stage 1!

Two Italians and two Americans Champions of the Meteksan Archery World Cup Stage 1! Santo Domingo, 5 April 2008   The Individual Final Matches took place at Fortaleza Ozama in Santo Domingo, the oldest fort of the New World. They saw the most experienced archers rewarded for their talent. Ilario Di Buo (ITA), Natalia Valeeva (ITA), Dave Cousins (USA) and Jamie Van Natta (USA) are the winners of this Meteksan Archery World Cup Stage 1. Below the live comments of the individual medal matches:   TSYREMPILOV Balijinima (RUS)   Recurve Men Gold Final - KUO Cheng Wei (TPE) vs. DI BUO Ilario (ITA) Di Buo and Kuo both opened the match with a 9. The Italian continued with a 10 and a 6. Kuo took the lead with a double 99 (27-25). Di Buo shot much better in the second end with 10-10-9 (Kuo with 9-9-9) to tie the score at 54 points. With 10-10-9 in the third end, Di Buo took the lead by 5 points (83-78), Kuo only scoring 8-9-7. The latter tried hard to come back, but the gap was too big to be filled. He shot 8-9-9 and Di Buo 9-9-7. The Italian stayed ahead and won the gold medal on the final score of 108-104!   Bronze Final - RAI Tarundeep (IND) vs. TSYREMPILOV Balijinima (RUS) 2007 World Cup Champion Tsyrempilov opened the match with a 10-9-9 (28) against Rai’s 8-9-10 (27). The Indian’s arrows in the second end were 9-7-5, while his Russian opponent continued on the right path with 9-9-9. The Russian was ahead by 7 points at the half-way mark. Tsyrempilov showed experience and strength scoring another strong end with 10-8-9. Rai dropped some points again with 7-8-9 (72-82). Tsyrempilov finally won the bronze medal with a comfortable advantage: 110-99.     VALEEVA Natalia (ITA) Recurve Women Gold Final - ERDYNIYEVA Natalya (RUS) vs. VALEEVA Natalia (ITA) The match started quite slowly for the two ladies who shot 5 and 7 respectively. Valeeva did better with her next two arrows with 10-8 (25), while Erdyniyeva shot 9-9 (23). Valeeva was ahead by 2 points. The Russian managed to shoot three 9s, but Valeeva kept her lead with 9-8-10 (52-50). In the third end, although Valeeva scored a 6, Erdyniyeva could not overtake Valeeva, as she shot a 7 (76-74). In the last end, Valeeva did not let it go and shot 10-10-9 to win gold! Erdyniyeva got silver finishing with 9-8-10. Final score: 105-101.   Bronze Final - SCHUH Berengere (FRA) vs. UNRUH Lisa (GER) The opening arrow for Schuh was a 7, while Unruh shot an 8. The French continued with 8-9 and the German 9-7. Both ladies were tied at 24 points after the first end. With the wind blowing from time to time, the French shot a 7-9-7 second end. Unruh scored 7-8-7, leaving the lead to her French opponent (47-46). The latter increased her lead up to 4 points thanks to a 9-8-9 series versus 7-8-8 for Unruh (73-69). The last end started badly for the German as she opened with a 6, of which she could not recover. Berengere clinched the bronze medal with a comfortable advantage: 101-91.   COGHLAN Patrick (AUS)   Compound Men Gold Final - TIMMS Robert (AUS) vs. COUSINS Dave (USA) Cousins started the match the best leading by one point (28-27). The two athletes both shot 28 points in the second end, Cousins thus staying ahead by one point (56-55). The wind started blowing again, and Timms shot 9-8-9, while Cousins scored 10-9-8 (83-81). In the last end, they shot the following sequence: 10-9 / 9-9 and 8-10. Cousins took victory and Timms the silver medal. Final score: 111-108.   Bronze Final - COGHLAN Patrick (AUS) vs. GRIMWOOD Liam (GBR)  The Australian took the lead in the first end with 10-9-7, while Grimwood shot 8-10-7 (26-25). Coghlan then achieved a strong of 29 points (10-9-19), against Grimwood’s 9-8-9 (26). A 4-point advantage (55-51) for the Australian! Coghlan stayed on track to shoot another 29-point end and increase his advantage to 84-77. He proved he was on a 29-point mood and finished the match with 113 points to win the bronze. Final score: 113-102.     LOGINOVA Albina (RUS) Compound Women Gold Final - VAN NATTA Jamie (USA) vs. BUDEN Ivana (CRO)  Buden opened up the match with a 7, while Van Natta did a little better with an 8. Buden continued with 8 and 7 (22). Her opponent shot 9-9 (26), and was ahead in this first end. The Croatian then improved her shooting with 8-8-10, but Van Natta kept her lead with 9-10-10 (55-48). The wind blew up strong in the field, and everything was going bad for Buden as she continued with a 6. Van Natta managed a 7 at that point. The two ladies went on shooting 8-8 for Buden and 9-9 for Van Natta (80-70). The American shot 7-9-10 to conclude and win the gold medal, as the athlete from Croatia shot 9-8-10. Final score: 106-97.   Bronze Final - BOUILLOT Amandine (FRA) vs. LOGINOVA Albina (RUS)  Bouillot started the match ahead of Loginova by scoring 29 points (9-10-10), while the Russian only scored 27 (9-9-9). Loginova opened the second end with an 8, followed by 9-9, while Bouillot shot 9-10-8. Bouillot was still ahead by two points (56-54). The third end was opened by the French with 8-10-10 (84), and 9-10-10 (83) for the Russian archer who could recover a little. The following two arrows were 9-10 for both, and Bouillot therefore kept her lead. However, the Russian managed to tie the score at 112 at the very last arrow (9 for Bouillot and 10 for Loginova). In the shoot-off session Bouillot shot first and scored an 8. Loginova could do better with a 9 and won the bronze!   Chantal Steiner FITA Communication