Review of the Recurve Qualifications)

Rahul BANERJEE (IND)      Individual - Recurve Men In the absence of 2008 World Cup winner IM Dong-Hyun (KOR) and any Korean competitors this category seems very open. After the long distances (90 and 70 metres for men), last year’s World Cup finalist Romain GIROUILLE (FRA) was at 1st place with 657 points. Rahul BANERJEE (IND) had the same score but ranked 2nd with twenty-six 10s (vs twenty-eight for GIROUILLE). BANERJEE’s teammate Mangal Sing CHAMPIA was two points behind (655) in 3rd place.   Behind the top three athletes, the two Mexicans Juan Rene SERRANO and Luis Eduardo VELEZ SANCHEZ were provisionally 4th and 7th respectively. The Canadian, Crispin DUENAS, was 4th and the Brits Laurence GODFREY and Simon TERRY were 5th and 8th.   The morning was marked by the withdrawal from qualification of 2004 Olympic champion Marco GALIAZZO (ITA) because he fell ill and could not continue shooting. Having shot six arrows, he will be able to shoot eliminations as the minimum number of qualifying arrows to be shot to avoid disqualification is one. However, automatically seeded last (no. 48), GALIAZZO will face the no. 17 seed in the 1/32 elimination. If he wins the first match, he will face his teammate TONELLI (no. 16) and if he beats him, he might shoot against the top seeded competitor in the 1/8 round.   After 144 arrows, GIROUILLE let 1st place slip, shooting only the 11th highest score at 30 metres. With a final total of 1339 points, the Frenchman ranked 4th, just behind the Mexican SERRANO with the same number of points but more 10s. The top two places were taken by two Indian competitors, BANERJEE (1st with 1348 points) and CHAMPIA (2nd with 1340).   Despite shooting the best score at 30m, the Canadian DUENAS lost one rank and finished 5th. The three best British archers ranked very close to one another with GODFREY 6th (personal best at 30m with 356 points), TERRY 7th and WILLS 9th. Between them it was the recent indoor silver medallist DOBROWOLSKI from Poland taking 8th place, shooting his personal best for a FITA Round with 1324 points on the way.      Justyna MOSPINEK (POL) Individual - Recurve Women In the recurve women’s category, the top place went to the reigning European champion from France, Berengere SCHUH, after the first two distances (70 and 60 metres). With 662 points, she had a comfortable lead over five time Olympian Natalia VALEEVA (ITA), who trailed by seven points on 655. The provisional 3rd place went to 2008 World Cup winner Justyna MOSPINEK (POL), also with 655 points but fewer 10s than VALEEVA.   With five Olympic appearances, another experienced lady, Alison WILLIAMSON (GBR), ranked 4th with 653 points just in front of three Indians, Reena KUMARI (5th), Laishram Bombayla DEVI (6th) and 2007 World Cup winner, Dola BANERJEE (7th). At 8th place was four times Olympian from the United States Khatuna LORIG. Bronze medallist at the 2008 European Championships and recently crowned indoor team champion, Pia Carmen LIONETTI was ranked only 30th after 72 arrows.   MOSPINEK made her way to the top place thanks to shooting the highest score at 50m. She finished the qualifications with a grand total of 1343 points, six points better than VALEEVA in 2nd place. The French lady SCHUH, who led at the half-way mark, lost two places to finally rank 3rd.   The Indian BANERJEE also gained a few ranks finishing 4th. Her teammate DEVI was 5th, ahead of the American LORIG and the surprising Colombian Natalia SANCHEZ. WILLIAMSON, who was 4th after 72 arrows, lost four places to be seeded no. 8 at the end.   Team - Recurve Men After the first two distances in the team event, India was 1st with a combined total of 1949 points and a comfortable margin over Great Britain, 2nd on 1915 and Mexico, 3rd with 1890. With two archers ranking in the top at the half-way mark—Jaime QUINTANA 17th and Juan Carlos STEVENS 18th—Cuba provisionally reached a healthy 6th place.   India’s advantage at the half-way mark was enough to keep 1st place. With a grand total of 4001 points, BANERJEE, CHAMPIA and TALUKDAR finished qualifications with a 19-point lead over their first pursuers, GODFREY, TERRY and WILLS from Great Britain. The 3rd rank was kept by Mexico with 3902 points, just one point ahead of Di BUO, NESPOLI and TONELLI’s Italy.   Team - Recurve Women With three competitors in the top 7, India easily led the team event at the half-way mark. With 1951 points, BANERJEE, DEVI and KUMARI had a 28-point advantage over Colombia, 2nd on 1923. With TOMASI, TONETTA and VALEEVA, Italy took the provisional 3rd rank with 1920 points. Despite WILLIAMSON’s individual 4th place, the team of Great Britain trailed at 8th place, BURGESS being placed 25th and OLIVER 36th.   India kept their top place with a final total score of 3956 points. They easily led the recurve women’s team qualifications with a 23-point advantage over Italy, 2nd on 3933. Colombia took 3rd place with 3890 points and Poland finished 4th with 3874.   Team - Recurve Mixed Double In the new Mixed Team competition, the best country was India with D. BANERJEE and R. BANERJEE. With SCHUH and GIROUILLE, France took the 2nd place, while Poland with MOSPINEK and DOBROWOLSKI was 3rd and Italy with VALEEVA and Di BUO 4th.   The semi-finals will be shot on Friday afternoon, India facing Italy and France shooting against Poland. The winning mixed teams will then battle for the gold medal, while the losers will go on to the bronze medal match. By Friday, the four qualified nations have the choice to change its two competitors who will compete in the mixed team final matches.   Ludivine MAITRE WICKI FITA Communication