18 April 2008 - Olympic Champion Marco Galiazzo leads Italy to Gold Medal Match and National Record

Olympic Champion Marco Galiazzo leads Italy to Gold Medal Match and National Record
Porec – 18 April 2008
 
The Italian team, led by the Olympic Champion Marco Galiazzo, has fought through to Saturday's gold medal match where they will face the archers from Chinese Taipei. On the women's side World Cup 2006 winner Zhang Juan Juan and Chinese teammates will shooting for victory against Poland.
Below our live commentaries of the selected matches.
Recurve Men   1st round: Netherlands - France
Led by a strong Romain Girouille, who qualified for tomorrow's individual gold final, the French team did not face real opposition in the first round of the team event. They were leading the Netherlands by 4 already after six arrows (56-52). The French increased their advantage at the half-way mark to 7 pts (111-104). Although they slowed down a bit in the next series (165-159), they easily clinched the match on the score of 219-213.
  1st round: Korea - Turkey
The favorite Korean team of Im Dong Hyun, Lee Chang Hwan and Park Kyung-Mo, seeded no. 1, was facing no. 16 Turkey. This match seemed unbalanced at first sight, but no matter what the ranking says, the Turkish archers took the field with optimism. It paid off at the end, since they created one of the big upsets ever, kicking out the Koreans in the first round of a team event by one little point! Final score: 223-222. It is to be noted that Korea lost although shooting the third best score of this round!
  1st round: Chinese Taipei - Malaysia
Team Malaysia took an early lead 55-52 after the first end. However, they let their opponents from Chinese Taipei tied the match at 107, as they shot a lower 8-8-9-8-10-7 end. The latter recovered their best shooting with five 10s and a 9 in the third series take over Malaysia with a 3-point advantage (165-162). The last end saw Chinese Taipei increase the lead and win the match by 218-213.
  1st round: Poland - China
Poland and China were tied at 51 pts after the first six arrows. It was then the Polish team proving more consistent: they shot all 9s with their eighteenth following arrows! China scoring some unusal 8s and 7s could not match Poland's consistency and lost 206-213. Seed no. 4 is out!
  Quarter-final: Chinese Taipei - Poland
The archers from Chinese Taipei took an early lead after six arrows (57-55). They kept increasing it against the Polish who seemed totally overshot... The score went to 110-106, 167-160 and finished at 224-212 in favour of the team of Chinese Taipei.
  Quarter-final: Italy - Mexico
The Mexicans managed to stay close up to the middle of the match. They were trailing by only 2 pts after six (51-53) and twelve arrows (107-109). The Italian team, led by Olympic Champion Marco Galiazzo, then make their effort to increase their lead to 6 pts with only six arrows to go (168-162). The last end would not change anything and Italy clinched the match by 225-219.
  Semi-final: France - Chinese Taipei
The French team was overtaken as the match started and was trailing by 3 pts after the first end (54-57). The second series of six arrows proved even more difficult for Romain Girouille and teammates who shot four 8s. Chinese Taipei increased their lead to 8 pts and the match was already over (113-105)! After another end after which Chinese Taipei was leading 168-159, the asian archers clinched the match on the score of 224-213.
  Semi-final: Italy - India
The team of India had the best start with 10-9-9-9-9-10 (56). With 55 pts in the first end, Olympic Champion Marco Galiazzo and teammates were trailing by 1 pt. Their deficit even doubled at the half-way mark although they shot 9-10-9-10-9-10 (111). With a series of 9-10-10-9-9-10 (113) India seemed to be on the right track. However, in the third end the Italians could score four 10s and two 9s (169) and recovered 1 pt (9-10-10-10-9-9/170 for India). Galiazzo's team started the last end with an 8, but they then followed with four 10s again and a 9 overtaking their opponents who could "only" manage on one 10 and five 9s. With 226 pts the Italians set a new national record!
  Recurve Women   1st round: Japan - India
In an 100% Asian confrontation India took the lead in the first end with 52 pts versus 51 for Japan. With two 10s and four 9s in the second end the Japanese tied the match at the half-way mark (107 each). But they were trailing again, this time by 2 pts before the last six arrows of the match (155-157). In the very last end, the Japanese took advantage of four 8s and two 7s by their opponents from India to come back and clinch the match on the score of 208-206.
  1st round: Great Britain - Italy
The Italian ladies, seeded no. 2, suffered a big upset in the first round of the team eliminations. They started with two 8s in the first end and were already trailing by 2 (54-56). The two teams then both scored a 23-point end and the difference did not change (107-109). The Italians could still hope, but with a 6 in the following six arrows, they lost it all there... Moreover, it was the time when the British team achieved a strong 57 end to take a 7-point advantage (166-159). The last end would not change anything and Great Britain took victory 222-215.
  1st round: Ukraine - France
The team of Ukraine started slowly with three 7s out of the first six arrows. They were led by France 47-54 in the first quarter of the match. In the second end France shot 8-9-7-5-8-8 (99) and kept the lead as Ukraine shot 8-7-7-9-9-5 (93). Things did not really change in the third series of six arrows (147-142), but they would very much in the last one... As Ukraine shot 9-8-7-7-9-9, France had two very bad shot of 6 and 4 (8-8-9-6-9-4), and the match was tied at 191! It was Ukraine that was on the positive mood for the shoot-off and they shot X10-8-9 versus 9-7-9 for France.
  Quarter-final: Ukraine - China
The team of China started the match with a consistent 9-9-9-9-9-9 end for 54. They were leading by 2 after Ukraine scored 8-9-8-10-9-8 (52). With two 7s in the second end, Ukraine wasted all chances to recover and were trailing by 6 pts at the half-way mark (102-108). The rest of the match would not lead to any upset and the seeded no. 4 Chinese won 217-210.
  Quarter-final: Japan - Great Britain
The two teams stayed close to each other in the first end, Great Britain taking the lead by only 1 pt (52-51). But then the British proved stronger shooting only 10s, 9s and 8s, while their opponents from Asia got a couple of low 7s. Great Britain thus kept increasing their lead (104-101/158-154) except in the last end where the two teams shot the same score and the difference was maintained in favour of the British ladies (210-206).
  Semi-final: Korea - China
The team of China took a 4-point lead after the favorite team Korea shot an unusual 8 and 7 in the first end (56-52). World Cup 2006 winner Zhang Juan Juan and teammates managed to maintain their lead at the half-way mark: China was leading by 3 at that point (111-108). With another 8 and a 7 in the third series of six arrows, the team of Olympic Champion Park Sung-Hyun continued to go further behind. They were then trailing by 5 with only six arrows to go (161-166). The deficit was too much to make up even for Koreans, and China, even though making a couple of shaky arrows, kept the lead to defeat Korea 218-215.
  Semi-final: Poland - Great Britain
The score was tied 50-50 after the first end. With 8-8-9-10-8-8 (101) the Polish team broke the tie by gaining a lead of 2 pts, as Great Britain scored 9-7-8-9-8-8 (99). With a strong end including one 10 and five 9s, the Polish increased their lead. Great Britain was trailing by 5 pts with six arrows remaining (151-156). The Polish ladies had too much of a lead after the third end and maintained their form to beat Great Britain by 3 pts (207-204).
 
Ludivine Maitre Wicki
FITA Communication 
 
NB: X10 and 10 are both worth 10 points. X10 were mentioned for information whenever possible. The arrows are mentioned in order whenever possible.