Host male archers catch fire!

afal DOBROWOLSKI (POL)    Recurve Men First elimination round and first upsets with no. 2 seed Andres GOMEZ (ESP) being kicked out by no. 31 Damian GOLY (POL), 114-116. Seeded no. 27, Damian SYMMANS (AUS) eliminated no. 6 Yuriy HAVELKO (UKR) on the score of 115-113. Close match between no. 18 Mauro NESPOLI (ITA)—team silver medallist in Beijing—and three times Olympian and seeded no. 15 Vic WUNDERLE (USA). The Italian took victory over the American by 116-115. Perfect score of 120 for no. 7 Amedeo TONELLI (ITA) against no. 26 Maksim TARANENKO (UKR).   The three Poles drove on, all winning their 1/8 elimination matches. Damian GOLY (no. 31 seed) and Jacek PROC (no. 23) beat two Italians, Mauro NESPOLI (no. 18) and Amedeo TONELLI (no. 7), respectively. Seeded no. 4, Rafal DOBROWOLSKI took over no. 13 Michael PEART (GBR) after a shoot-off. The two of them were tied at 117 points after twelve arrows, and the Pole scored a 9, while the Englishman an 8 just out of the 10 ring. No. 1 seed Simon TERRY (GBR) was close to defeat against Bair BADENOV (RUS). He finally won 119-118 after the Russian shot an 8 at his penultimate arrow.   Shooting at home, the Polish archers were on fire shooting! DOBROWOLSKI scored a perfect 120 to beat Hiroyuki YOSHINAGA (JPN) in quarterfinal. In a 100% Polish match, GOLY got the upper hand over his teammate PROC, after a shoot-off (10-9). In the clash between no. 1 Simon TERRY (GBR) and no. 9 Jean-Charles VALLADONT (FRA)—revenge match of the Nimes European Indoor Tournament’s final in January—the Frenchman upset his opponent 118-116 after the Briton shot an 8 at his very last arrow. The fourth semi-finalist was Yavor Vasilev HRISTOV (BUL) who took over Frenchman Damien PIGEAUD 118-117.   Unfortunately for the local fans, the recurve men’s gold final will not be 100% Polish. In semi-final, DOBROWOLSKI took victory over Frenchman VALLADONT 119-117, but his teammate GOLY conceded defeat against Bulgarian HRISTOV on the same score.   Recurve Women In the first elimination round, the Olympian Aida ROMAN (MEX), seeded no. 25, took over 2008 World Cup winner and no. 8 seed Justyna MOSPINEK (POL) 116-115. The young, talented Elena TONETTA (ITA) conceded defeat 111-113 against Charlotte BURGESS (GBR). The highest score of this round was the work of Saho NISHIMURA (JPN) with 118 points.   The tighter match in the second round (1/8 elimination) was between the defending champion Nami HAYAKAWA (JPN), seeded no. 3, and the Italian Pia Carmen LIONETTI, no. 19. The two ladies were tied at 118 points as well as after the first shoot-off (10 each). Finally, experience spoke, and HAYAKAWA scored a 9 to win against a 9 for LIONETTI. The two Mexican Olympians Aida ROMAN (no. 25) and Mariana AVITIA (no. 12) continued their merry way beating no. 9 Victoriya KOVAL (UKR) and no. 5 Saho NISHIMURA.   No more surprises in the recurve women’s category with the top 4 athletes qualifying to the semi-finals. No. 1 seed Berengere SCHUH (FRA) easily beat 15-year old Aida ROMAN (MEX) 117-110. The Italian Natalia VALEEVA (no. 2) kicked out Ukraine’s Olena KUSHNIRUK 118-115 in quarterfinal. Finally, Nami HAYAKAWA (JPN)—seeded no. 3 and defending world champion—defeated the Dutch woman Coby HURKMANS, while no. 4 Karina WINTER of Germany eliminated the second Mexican Mariana AVITIA.   The recurve women’s gold final will put together Germany’s WINTER and Italy’s VALEEVA. In semi-final, the four times indoor crowned Italian defeated the reigning champion HAYAKAWA from Japan on the score of 118-116. In the second semi-final, no. 1 seed SCHUH of France conceded defeat against no. 4 WINTER on the same score.   Recurve Junior Men In the men’s junior class, two of the main favourites will face each other for gold on Sunday 8 March. The no. 4 seed Ivan DENIS from Belgium reached the gold final beating no. 29 Haiyang NGUYEN (USA) 119-114, no. 13 Ignas MORKELIUNAS (LTU) 114-112 and no. 5 Camilo MAYR (GER) 116-114 and finally the no. 1 seed Vetle RISINGGAARD (NOR) 116-113 in semi-final. DENIS will have Luca MELOTTO (ITA)—2008 junior world champion but only seeded no. 14 in Rzeszow—as opponent for gold. The Italian was given a hard time by no. 6 seed Filip PERTLIK (CZE) in quarterfinal. Led after the first and third ends (29-30/86-87), he finally got over the Czech thanks to a perfect 30-point end (final score: 116-115). The bronze medal match will be between Vetle RISINGGAARD (NOR) and Razvan MARCU (ROU).   Recurve Junior Women The young Pole Joanna KAMINSKA emulated her recurve men’s fellow countryman DOBROWOLSKI reaching the gold final in the recurve junior women’s category. Seeded no. 24 only, KAMINASKA made her way through defeating no. 9 seed Lidiia SICHENIKOVA (UKR) 115-113, no. 8 Helena FERNANDEZ (ESP) 112-110, no. 1 favourite Tatiana SEGINA (RUS) 116-115 and no. 13 Gloria FILIPPI (ITA) 114-113. In the gold medal match on Sunday, she will face no. 6 seed Anna BOMBOEVA (RUS). Among others, the Russian defeated the Dane Maja Buskbjerg JAGER (no. 3) in quarterfinal and the Ukrainian Iryna DUBAS (no. 2) in semi-final. The bronze medal will put FILIPPI and DUBAS one against each other.   FITA Communication