16 April 2008 - World Record for the French Compound Men Team!

World Record for the French Compound Men Team! Porec – 16 April 2008
The Archery World Cup Stage 2 started this morning in Porec, Croatia, with the Qualification Rounds for the Recurve Women and Compound Men categories. With its three archers ranking 1st, 2nd and 5th in the individual qualifications, the team of France has set a new World Record in the Compound Men 70m Round with 2103 points (previous: 2096)! In Recurve Women the Koreans took three of the first four qualification places.  
Recurve Women This category has seen the Korean ladies start their World Cup season here in Porec—the Korean team was absent in Santo Domingo two weeks ago for the first stage. Unsurprisingly they finished in the qualifications top places with Yun Ok Hee 1st (670 pts), the Olympic Champion Park Sung-Hyun 3rd and Joo Hyun Jung 4th (both 661). In between was Polish Justyna Mospinek at 2nd place (665). The fourth Korean Kwak Je Ji ranked 17th with 630 pts. She is new in the team together with Joo. World Cup Stage 1 winner and World Champion Natalia Valeeva (ITA) took 5th place (656). The Russian Natalya Erdyniyeva (2nd in Santo Domingo) finished 13th this morning. A shoot-off arrow was needed to decide on the 64th lady to take part in the eliminations tomorrow: after both shooting 590 pts, the French Cyrielle Delamare took over Turkish Zehra Oktem (8-7).

In the team qualifications Korea scored 1992 pts and finished first with a comfortable 72-point advantage over first pursuers Italy (1920). Poland follows with 1918 pts. Twenty-five teams were fighting this morning for the 16 places allowing them to shoot in the 1/8 finals on Thursday. The cut was set by Malaysia that finished 16th with 1780, only 1 point ahead of the Netherlands (1779)! 
 
Compound Men In the absence of this year’s first stage winner Dave Cousins (USA), who has not travelled to Croatia as well as the whole American team, France has taken the opportunity finishing at first place in both the individual and the team qualifications. Led by an excellent Dominique Genet (only 40th in Santo Domingo), the French team has even set a new World Record for a 70m Round despite heavy rain in the first half of the morning. With a total score of 2103 Dominique Genet, Pierre Julien Deloche and Sebastien Brasseur beat the previous record by 7 points (2096 by USA two weeks ago in Santo Domingo).

“It’s fantastic!” Brasseur exclaimed. “It’s is the first time that Pierre Julien shoots with us in a FITA Outdoor competition and we achieve this World Record! Last year, in Izmir, it was Pierre Julien’s first appearance with us in a FITA Indoor and we also made a team world record in a match. Unfortunately, the USA took it back right away. This time it is the reverse: we beat the record that the Americans set in Santo Domingo just two weeks ago. Our coach wanted us to achieve more than 2100 points this year—we did it early!”

The team event includes 21 nations. Behind France and their World Record of 2103, we find Australia with 2065 pts. The Islamic Republic of Iran created the surprise in these qualifications: coming back from behind (5th after 36 arrows), the Iranian archers finished 3rd with 2063 pts. Spain lost five ranks in the second half of the round, going down from 3rd to 8th place. The last qualifying place for the 1/8 finals was taken by Greece with 2006 pts.

In the individual event the French archers finished 1st (Genet), 2nd (Deloche) and 5th (Brasseur). In between was World Champion Trillus Dietmar (CAN) at 3rd place and Patrick Coghlan (AUS) 4th. The Australian was 3rd two weeks ago in Santo Domingo and seems ready for confirmation. The qualification limit in Compound Men was set at 662 pts by Romanian Giorgios Kaladamis.

The afternoon session features the Qualification Rounds for Recurve Men and Compound Women! 
 
Ludivine Maitre Wicki FITA Communication