BUDEN earns a final on home soil, while PAGNI repeats as finalist

  Compound Men In the first round (1/32 eliminations) of the compound men’s competition, the No. 1 seed Martin DAMSBO (DEN) was taken out by the No. 64 Serkan TUNA (TUR). The Turkish archer had a close to perfect first end with 59 points and led by three. He held onto his lead in the second end and won 115-114. On another note, the 'story of the week' Brady ELLISON (USA) who qualified for the bronze medal match in recurve this morning, had to go through a shoot-off to win his first round match in compound this afternoon. He was tied at 54-54 and then at 110-110 with Claudio CAPOVILLA (ITA). ELLISON won the shoot-off 10-9. The No. 10 seed Pierre-Julien DELOCHE (FRA) was defeated by Gerhard GRITSCH (AUT). They were tied at 56-56 and then 112-112, but the Austrian prevailed with his tie-break arrow, 10-8. Silver medallist in Santo Domingo, Patrizio HOFER (SUI) also lost against another Austrian Michael MATZNER.   In the 1/16 eliminations, the two other medallists from Santo Domingo were eliminated! Braden GELLENTHIEN (USA) lost against Thomas HASENFUSS (GER). The American was leading 57-56. HASENFUSS reversed the score in the second end to clinch the match 114-113. HASENFUSS has been a tough competitor with previous World Cup experience, having won the bronze medal match at the Antalya World Cup in 2006. Peter ELZINGA (NED) was taken out by the experienced Antonio TOSCO (ITA), 56-58, 116-115. The No. 64 TUNA could not continue his way as he was beaten by Vladas SIGAUSKAS (LTU). The Lithuanian had a perfect first end with 60 points and won the match 116-111. The story also ended for ELLISON. The American actually led the reigning world champion and 2008 World Cup winner Dietmar TRILLUS (CAN) 57-56 after the first end, but the Canadian fought back in the second end to prevail 113-111. Finally, Roberval DOS SANTOS (BRA) had to go through a tie-break to beat Liam GRIMWOOD (GBR), 10-9 with the extra arrow.   The road of DOS SANTOS ended in 1/8 eliminations against one of his ‘old friends’, the national hero from El Salvador Jorge JIMENEZ. The Salvadorian shot superbly in the first end with a 58 and clinched the match 114-112. HASENFUSS was also stopped by a well-known competitor and previous Grand Finalist, Sebastien BRASSEUR (FRA), 117-114. In a match with two grand finalists from Lausanne last year, Sergio PAGNI (ITA) beat Patrick COGHLAN (AUS) 114-112 (58-55). The world champion TRILLUS was able to pull himself out of some trouble at this stage. His match was tied at 57-57 after six arrows against C. R. SRITHER (IND). However the Canadian was more consistent in the second end and qualified for the quarterfinal with a score of 114-112.   TRILLUS could not however survive another round. He had to surrender in a breath-taking quarterfinal against Vladas SIGAUSKAS (LTU). The Lithuanian took a 2-point lead after the first end, 29-27. They both were perfect in the second end with 30 points. TRILLUS made up one point in the third end with a 30-29. He then tied the match in the last end with another 30-29 for a final score of 117-117. The first arrow of the shoot-off was 10 for both archers, and so was the second one. The third arrow was an X10 and the judge could not determine which one was closer to the centre. The archers had then to shoot a rare fourth arrow. This time TRILLUS scored a 9 and the No. 33 SIGAUSKAS completed the upset with a 10. Two grand finalists from Dubai 2007 met in another quarterfinal. JIMENEZ (ESA) prevailed over BRASSEUR (FRA), 117-113. PAGNI had a tough match against Anders MALM (SWE). The Swedish archer took the lead 30-29 and kept it until the third end, 88-87. However, he only achieved 9-9-9 in the last end, and PAGNI took advantage of it with 10-10-9 to clinch the match 116-115. In the last quarter-final, Paul TITSCHER (GER) defeated the local hero Goran VILLI (CRO), 117-111.   SIGAUSKAS gave another great match to the fans in his semifinal against JIMENEZ. The Lithuanian took the lead twice (29-28 and 87-86), but twice JIMENEZ came back, 58-58 and finally 115-115. In another shoot-off, both archers shot a 9 first. With the second arrow, JIMENEZ made his way back to a gold medal match since Dubai 2007 (10-9)! In the second semifinal, PAGNI, winner in Porec last year, took the lead 58-55 after two ends and did not let it go, winning 115-113. He will shoot in another gold final in the Marina on Saturday!   Compound Women There were no surprises in the 1/32 elimination round in compound women. There was a tough match between Olga BOSCH (VEN), who ranked fourth in Santo Domingo, and Julia BENITO (ESP). The score was tied at 55-55 and then 105-105. The first and second arrows of the shoot-off were also tied as the archers exchanged a couple of 9s and 10s. However, at the last arrow BOSCH prevailed with a 10 over an 8 for BENITO. In another interesting match, Diane JOHNSTON (USA) beat by 113-106 Anne LAURILLA (FIN) who was fourth in Porec last year.   The first big surprise came in 1/16 eliminations when JOHNSTON took out the No. 3 seed Sofia GONCHAROVA (RUS). The Russian led 55-54 on the first end, but the American finished strong with 10-10-10-10-9-9 to clinch the match 112-109. BOSCH survived another round. She trailed 56-58 but managed to tie the match at 111-111. She was perfect again in the shoot-off, wining 10-9. Inge ENTHOVEN (NED) had an exciting match with Nichola SIMPSON (GBR). The British archer led 57-56 but ENTHOVEN tied it at 112-112. The first shoot-off arrow was a 9 for both archers. The second one was a 10 for both archers. The third arrow needed to be the closest to the centre to give victory. They both made another 9, but SIMPSON’s one was a liner and ENTHOVEN more solid, qualifying her for the next round.   The heroes of the first two rounds met in the third one and only BOSCH kept going, beating JOHNSTON 109-107. The other Venezuelan, Lumary GUEDEZ (VEN), had a great match against the local hero Ivana BUDEN (CRO). The Croatian started with 9-X10-9-10-9-9 for 56 points, whereas GUEDEZ had 8-X10-9-10-10-10 for 57 points. However, BUDEN managed to tie the match at 110-110. GUEDEZ could not sustain the pressure of the tie-break, scoring a 7. BUDEN has a perfect 10 to move to the next round. The world champion Eugenia SALVI (ITA) had a good start with 10-10-10-10-9-9 for 58 points. She had a 2-point lead over Albina LOGINOVA (RUS). However, the Russian finished with a perfect 60 to clinch the match 116-114.   The women’s quarterfinals gave some surprising results. The No. 1 seed Jamie VAN NATTA (USA) and the No. 8 Andrea WEIHE (GER) were tied after the first end, 28-28. Then VAN NATTA took the lead 57-56 and again, 85-84. However the American finished with 10-9-8 and WEIHE scored a perfect end, X10-X10-10 to clinch the upset 114-112! The No. 12 seed Nicky HUNT (GBR) took an early lead against the No. 4 seed LOGINOVA, 30-28. She managed to keep it all the way through the match for another upset, 116-114. The 'BOSCH story' came to an end with her quarterfinal against Anastasia ANASTASIO (ITA). The score was tight halfway through (59-58), but the Italian finally clinched it 118-112. Finally, the local hero BUDEN kept herself in the race thanks to another shoot-off! Her match against Namita YADAV (IND) was tied all the way and finished at 114-114. In the tie-break, BUDEN prevailed 10-9.   In the match of the underdogs, WEIHE and HUNT were tied at 29 points after three arrows. Then the Briton took the lead 58-57 and increased it to 87-85, scoring twice 10-10-9. She held on to the lead and qualified for her first gold medal final with a score of 115-113. In the second semifinal, the young ANASTASIO built up a lead (58-56, 87-85). However, the Italian finished with a poor 8-9-9. In front of her home crowd, BUDEN did not miss the opportunity and scored 9-10-10. She had a come-back victory 114-113 and will shoot for gold in the Porec Marina.   To be continued on Saturday!   Didier MIEVILLE FITA Communication