TALUKDAR and PAGNI double winners in Porec

  Recurve Men  Gold Medal – Marco GALIAZZO (ITA) vs Jayanta TALUKDAR (IND) Jayanta TALUKDAR won the first ever World Cup stage in Porec in 2006 and also participated in the 2006 World Cup Final in Mexico. He is ranked 16th in the world ranking. Marco GALIAZZO was the Olympic champion in 2004 and is currently 17th in the world. These two archers had already met twice, once in 2006 and then in 2008. Both matches were played here in Porec! TALUKDAR won both of them.   TALUKDAR opened the game with a 3-point lead over GALIAZZO with 27-24, and kept on the same in the second end with 55-52. The Indian seemed willing to record another victory against the Italian as he kept ahead, although his advantage decreased to 82-81.   TALUKDAR confirmed his 3-0 head-to-head statistics against GALIAZZO by winning the match and the gold medal on the final score of 110-108. GALIAZZO got silver.   Bronze Medal – Brady ELLISON (USA) vs Jean-Charles VALLADONT (FRA) Brady ELLISON was the No. 1 seed of this competition and he 13th in the world ranking. Jean-Charles VALLADONT is ranked 37th in the world. They had never met before.   Favourite of the match, ELLISON shot first and led the first end by one point (28-27). He then continued with a perfect end of 30 points to lead by two at 58-56.   The two archers then shot exactly the same arrows (10-10-9) to remain with the same gap (87-85). The last end was very tight as the archers were tied before the last arrow at 104 points. Both shot 10s, which led to a shoot-off!   ELLISON and VALLADONT both shot 8s, and therefore, another tie-break arrow was necessary. Finally, the French archer took the bronze home with a 10, against a 9 for his opponent.   Recurve Women   Gold Medal – ZHAO Ling (CHN) vs Pia Carmen LIONETTI (ITA) ZHAO Ling and Pia Carmen LIONETTI had never faced each other before. ZHAO is ranked 37th in the world, while LIONETTI is 22nd.   The first end gave the advantage to the Chinese archer as she scored 28 points, against 27 for the Italian. However, a great second end by LIONETTI gave her the lead with 57-55.   In the second half of the match, the Chinese managed to take the lead again with a superb perfect end, also taking advantage of an 8 by her opponent (85-84). In the last end, ZHAO even managed to increase the gap a little more to clinch the fold medal. LIONETTI went home with silver on the final score of 113-110.   Bronze Medal – Susanne POSSNER (GER) vs Berengere SCHUH (FRA) These two archers had never faced each other before. Berengere SCHUH is 6th in the world and bronze medallist from the 2009 Indoor World Championships.   It was a 1-point lead for the German archer to start the match (27-26), who then increased her advantage to two points through the second end for a score of 54-52 at the half-way mark.   Another 7 for SCHUH in the third end made her lose all hopes to come back in this match, especially after the great shot of POSSNER with 10-9-10 (83-77). However, all was in doubt in the last end as the German opened with a 5! Unfortunately for the Frenchwoman, her 10-9-9 was not enough to tie and the German won the bronze medal 107-105.   Compound Men   Gold Medal – Jorge JIMENEZ (ESA) vs Sergio PAGNI (ITA) These two archers had only met once before. It was at the 2007 Ulsan World Cup stage. Jorge JIMENEZ beat Sergio PAGNI in quarterfinal.   The Italian took a perfect start with 30 points. His opponent from El Salvador managed 29 points. PAGNI shot another good second end, scoring 29 points and increasing the gap at 59-57.   In the second half of the match, the Salvadorian hero took his acts together and scored a perfect end to get closer to the Italian at 88-87, but PAGNI could not resist taking revenge from 2007 and clinched the match by one point with 117-116.   Bronze Medal – Vladas SIGAUSKAS (LTU) – Paul TITSCHER (GER) This was the first final for Vladas SIGAUSKAS in a FITA World Cup stage and World Ranking event. He is currently ranked 58th in the world. His opponent, Paul TITSCHER, is 23rd in the world ranking and was silver medallist at the 2004 Junior World Championships in Lilleshall (GBR).   The first end was tied at 28 points each. At the half-way mark, the Lithuanian managed to take a 1-point lead at 56-55. With three arrows remaining in this match, the leader stayed ahead by one point, 84-83.   In the last end, the Lithuanian lost her nerves and shot an 8 that allowed his opponent to tie the match at 111 points. Shoot-off! TITSCHER shot a death centre 10 and SIGAUSKAS could not follow with his 8. Great run anyway for the Lithuanian, and congratulations to the German for the bronze medal!   Compound Women  Gold Medal – Nicky HUNT (GBR) – Ivana BUDEN (CRO) Nicky HUNT is currently ranked 14th in the world. Ivana BUDEN is 5th and finished 2nd at the 2008 World Cup Final. She broke the 1400 barrier in the qualifications for the first time in her career.   The local archer was warmly welcomed by the spectators. She opened the match with 8-9-10, but nothing was lost as her opponent shot 9-8-10 to tie the match at 27 points. In the second end, the Briton took a 1-point advantage with 10-10-9 for 56-55, and followed with a perfect end of 30 points to increase her lead to 86-84.   The last end was decisive, as BUDEN shot a 10-9 while HUNT an 8-9 to tie the score. The last arrow for BUDEN was an 8, and HUNT clinched the gold medal with a 10. The silver went to the local archer.   Bronze Medal – Andrea WEIHE (GER) vs Anastasia ANASTASIO (ITA) Andrea WEIHE is ranked 40th in the world, while Anastasia ANASTASIO is in 69th position and won the 2007 Junior Indoor World Championships.   WEIHE opened the match with a 1-point lead after the first end as she scored 10-10-8, against ANASTASIO’s 10-9-8. In the second end, the Italian could tie the match as she shot 10-8-10, while the German shot 10-8-9 (55-55). They kept the same rhythm to remain tied in the third end at 83 points each.   The Italian could not keep the pace in the last end, however, and shot 8-9-10. She lost the match, as the German shot 10-9-10 to total up 112-110.   Chantal STEINER FITA Communication