Seven countries in team finals on Saturday

 Recurve Men The No. 4 seed Ukraine struggled to beat the No. 13 Belarus in the first round (1/8 eliminations). Belarus had a good start with X10-10-10-9-9-8 and took a 4-point lead over Ukraine, 56-52. The Ukrainians, led by Olympic campion Viktor RUBAN, warmed up in the second end and scored a decent 9-10-8-9-10 (54 points) to close half of the gap at 106-108. They continued their efforts and tied the game at 160-160. Finally, they finished strong with a 9-X10-10-10-9-X10 (58 points) to clinch the match 218-214. The No. 5 seed Italy also had some problem to defeat the No. 12 Poland. Italy only led 111-110 at the half-way mark and both teams were neck to neck until the end of the match. Italy won it 219-217. The upset came from the No. 11 France who took out the No. 6 Spain. The Spanish dug themselves a hole when they scored only 45 points in the second end and trailed 100-103. They managed to tie it back at 156-156 but France had the upper hand at the end and qualified for the quarterfinal, 214-210.   In the quarterfinals, the No. 1 team India had the highest score with 227 points. They beat the USA led by Brady ELLISON. In another Olympic champions match between GALIAZZO (ITA) and RUBAN (UKR), Italy again got the upper hand although they were trailing 54-55 and 109-110. They pulled away with a 57 in the third end to take the lead 166-163, and won it 221-213. France tried their best against Russia, but they could never put much pressure. Russia led 56-54, 111-108, 167-165 and clinched the match 225-221. Finally, China beat Australia 226-218.   In the semifinals, India and Italy was tied after the first end 57-57. Then the Indians took a 2-point lead, 113-111. They finally increased it in the last end and won 225-220. The No. 3 Russia was playing the No. 2 China in the other semifinal. The Russians had a great group in the first end to score 57 points and took a good lead 57-53. They never let go and won the match 219-210.  Recurve Women In the first round (1/8 eliminations), two upsets took place. The No. 10 Spain had an easy win over the No. 7 Germany, whose shooters had a great competition in individuals yesterday. This time it was not meant to be for the German women who conceded defeat 196-210. The No. 5 Russia scored a bit higher reaching 206 points. However, the Australian team anchored by the come-back of Deonne BRIDGER managed to pull out the victory. Australia was behind 104-108, and then tied it at 155-155, before they won 210-206. The match between the No. 8 Great Britain and the No. 9 India was supposed to be tight and indeed it was. Great Britain took a small lead 55-53, scoring five 9s and one 10 in the first end. India had 10-10-10-9-8-8 to narrow the gap in the second end, 108-109. Then the Indians tied it at 163-163 and the two teams finally reached the best score of the round at 217 points each. A tiebreak was needed with one arrow per archer. Great Britain had 8-7-7, while India had X10-9-9 to qualify for the next round!   In the quarterfinals, India continued their great run and upset the No. 1 Italy. The Italians had a bye in the first round and were probably caught cold. Indian dominated the match and won it 217-212. France and Australia had a close first half and the French led 102-101. They managed to increase the gap in the second half and clinched the match 211-200. Ukraine and China also moved on to the next round.   In the semifinals, India had a tight match with France. The Indians took the lead 52-50 in the first end, but France reversed the score and took the lead 102-100. The score was then tied at 155-155 after three ends. India cracked down a little bit in the last end, scoring X10-8-X10-9-6-8. France was more consistent with 9-8-8-X10-9-9 to clinch the match 208-206. China and Ukraine were tied at 54-54 after the first end. Then the Chinese scored 8-10-9-9-X10-10 to take the lead 110-108. They increased it at 163-159. Although the Ukrainians gave their best in the last end, they could not come back. China won 208-206 and will meet France in the final Saturday!  Compound Men Team Sweden had a bye in the 1/8 elimination round. A close match between Germany and Switzerland started with 59 points on each score board, but Germany kept stronger in their shots and went on increasing their lead to finally clinch the match 225-220. Team USA, with Brady ELLISON, easily beat Turkey 225-179.   In the quarterfinals, the Americans faced the Germans. USA led after the first two ends with 115-114, but a 7 in the third end made them trail by 170-172. USA managed to tie in the last end at 227 pts. The first shoot-off was tied with 10-10-9 for both. The second shoot-off gave victory to Germany as they shot 9-9-10 against USA’s 8-10-9. Denmark fought hard and managed to stay ahead of the Netherlands with a final score of 227-224.   In the semifinal, the Germans gave a hard time to the Swedish team, as they were ahead up to the second end (58-57, 115-113). But a bad third end for Germany (52 pts) allowed Sweden to come back to the score and even take the lead in the last end to win the match 228-224.   The second semi-final between Denmark and Italy went without trouble for the Italians as they kept on leading up to the end (final score: 232-229) to earn the right to shoot for gold on Saturday against the Swedes, while the Danes will fight for bronze against the Germans.  Compound Women There was only one 1/8 elimination match in the compound women’s category. After a hard fought match, Spain beat Finland 220-215.   Spain started the quarterfinals greatly by tying Italy at 110 points. Unfortunately, a 3 in the third end made them lose all hopes and lost by 214-218. An interesting match between Netherlands and Austria as the Austrians came strongly back to the score in the third end and eventually tying at 216 pts. However, the Dutch showed they were more experienced by shooting a perfect shoot-off (30), while their opponents could only manage 9-8-9.   The first semifinal between Italy and Germany gave the advantage to Italy in the first three ends with Germany getting closer end after end (58-54, 112-109, 167-166). The last end was decisive as Germany scored 58 pts against 54 for Italy, and therefore, the Germans clinched the match with a final score of 224-221.   The second semifinal saw the Netherlands face Russia. The Dutch took the lead first, but the Russians managed to come back to the score slowly end after end (54-51, 112-110, 163-167), and with a better last end, they won with a final score of 223-217. So Germany will face Russia in the gold medal match, while Italy will shoot against the Netherlands for bronze.   Didier MIEVILLE/Chantal STEINER FITA Communication