Decisive World Cup Stage in Shanghai

Camilla SOEMOD (DEN) dreams of a World Cup Final at home      This year the race for the top four spots per category is even more open than usual. Shanghai and its modern metropolitan downtown should be a great theatre for some intense sports drama.   Recurve Men In the recurve men’s category, Jayanta TALUKDAR (IND) and Simon TERRY (GBR) definitely have an edge with respectively 45 and 43 points in the World Cup ranking. Marco GALIAZZO (ITA) is in good shape with 36 points. The fourth place is up for grabs—Romain GIROUILLE (FRA) currently has it with 25 points but many archers are still in the hunt. These include Crispin DUENAS (CAN), Thomas AUBERT and Jean-Charles VALLADONT (FRA), the 2007 World Cup Final winner Baljinima TSYREMPILOV (RUS), the double Olympic medallist and Japanese hero Hiroshi YAMAMOTO (JPN), the Korean OH Jin-Hyek, Juan Rene SERRANO (MEX), Rafal DOBROWOLSKI (POL) and the Olympic champion Viktor RUBAN (UKR).   Recurve Women In recurve women, Berengere SCHUH (FRA) currently leads with 35 points, four ahead of Natalia VALEEVA (ITA). From there down, the ranking is very tight—the Final is anybody’s for the taking. Among the favourites, there is of course the golden trio from Korea JOO Hyun-Jung, KWAK Ye-Ji and YUN Oh-Hee. The 2004 Olympic bronze medallist Alison WILLIAMSON (GBR) is still a threat. Among the young generation, one should look at the 2007 World Cup Final winner Dola BANERJEE (IND), Pia Carmen LIONETTI and Elena TONETTA (ITA), Natalya ERDYNIYEVA (RUS) and Victoriya KOVAL (UKR). Finally, OUYANG Ruyu and ZHAO Ling represent the best chance for China.   Compound Men Braden GELLENTHIEN (USA) and the mixed compound team of Italy are the only ones already qualified for the World Cup Final in Copenhagen! Behind GELLENTHIEN, who has 46 points, there are an unprecedented 14 archers within 14 points of each other—from the 2008 World Cup winner Dietmar TRILLUS (CAN) with 29 points, to Vladas SIGAUSKAS (LTU), who has 15. They all still have a chance to qualify for Copenhagen. Among them, several have already participated at a World Cup Final: Patrick COGHLAN (AUS), Sergio PAGNI (ITA), Roberval DOS SANTOS (BRA), Patrizio HOFER (SUI), Peter ELZINGA (NED), Sebastian BRASSEUR (FRA) and the 2007 World Cup Final winner Jorge JIMENEZ (ESA)!   Compound Women The compound women’s category is not as tight but still wide open at this stage of the season. The top 10 archers are in contention for the four places. The leader Olga BOSCH (VEN) has an edge with 49 points but many can still qualify: BOSCH’s teammate Luzmary GUEDEZ, the recent World Games bronze medallist Ivana BUDEN (CRO), Nicky HUNT (GBR), Anastasia ANASTASIO (ITA), Albina LOGINOVA (RUS) and Camilla SOEMOD (DEN) who is dreaming of a Final at home!   Mixed Team Italy has the place in compound and is a contender in recurve as well, together with China, Poland and India. The best compound and recurve mixed teams of the year will play against Denmark in Copenhagen.   Didier MIEVILLE FITA Communication