Italy wins again in Mixed Team

 Recurve Mixed Team One semifinal saw the last two male Olympic champions face each other. Marco GALIAZZO (ITA) won in Athens 2004 and Viktor RUBAN (UKR) was crowned in Beijing last summer. The Italian paired with Natalia VALEEVA while the Ukrainian teamed up with Viktorya KOVAL. The Italian pair took the best stat scoring two ends of 36 points, while their opponents had twice 34. RUBAN and KOVAL came back at bit in the last two ends but it was not enough. They conceded defeat 140-142.   In the other semifinal, Justyna MOSPINEK and Rafal DOBROWOLSKY (POL) faced CHEN Wenyuan and ZHAO Ling (CHN). The Poles took a strong advantage in the second end and led 74-69. They controlled the match later on to reach the gold final on the score of 144-140.   In the final, Italy took the best start and led 39-33. However, Poland came back in the second end with a 39-34. Hence, the score was 73-72 for Italy at the halfway mark. The Italians kept a high level and increased their lead to 112-110. VALEEVA and GALIAZZO finally won the match 149-145!   In the bronze medal match, Ukraine and China were tied at 70 points at the halfway mark and at 142 at the end of the match. In the shoot-off, KOVAL and RUBAN shot a 9 and 8, while the Chinese had a pair of 9s to clinch the bronze.   VALEEVA said: “It’s fun, it’s different. It’s a bit tricky to adapt to the 4-arrow end and to another partner. We did not have a chance to train together. I think it’s a great competition because it’s truly the top eight archers who qualify for the matches. There is no lucky way and the matches had a really high level.”   MOSPINEK said: “I like it a lot. It’s the second time we finish second behind Italy. That shows the depth and the quality of the Italian archers. I think it’s a great competition because it takes the two best archers of a nation. The matches are fast, the scores are high. I think the fans enjoy it a lot. I would not mind being second behind the Italians if it was at the Olympic Games…”  Compound Mixed Team The semifinal between USA and France was very tight! After the first end, the teams were tied at 37. Then Joanna CHESSE and Pierre-Julien DELOCHE (FRA) took the lead 75-73 and 112-109. However, Jamie VAN NATTA and Braden GELLENTHIEN (USA) scored a perfect 40 in the last end to clinch a come-back victory 149-148!   In the other semifinal, Anastasia ANASTASIO and Sergio PAGNI (ITA) took the lead with a perfect first end, 40-39. They increased it at 79-76 and then 117-115. A last perfect end of Camilla SOEMOD and Martin DAMSBO was not enough to come back. Italy prevailed 156-155.   In the gold final, Italy took an early lead 39-37 over USA. Then they both had a perfect end of 40. VAN NATTA and GELLENTHIEN gave their best effort in the last two ends (39 and 38) but ANASTASIO and PAGNI kept their 2-point margin for a 156-154 victory.   In the bronze final, Denmark and France were tied at 39-39 after the first end. Then, Denmark took the lead 78-76 and finally clinched the match 157-154.   SOEMOD (DEN) said: “It’s a good competition but I believe it would be even better with more teams. I hope we will make it bigger soon. The atmosphere would build more with eight teams”.   CHESSE (FRA) said: “I like it because it confronts men and women. I believe archery is a sport where we can easily do so!”   Julien DELOCHE (FRA) said: “Very interesting, refreshing. I actually felt less pressure in mixed team.”   The next mixed team competition will take place at the Antalya World Cup in Turkey.   Didier MIEVILLE FITA Communication