The road to Copenhagen!

 Recurve Men The journey of the last two Olympic champions stopped in the first round. Too bad as they would have come up against each other in the second round. The 2004 champion Marco GALIAZZO (ITA) had the best start against the 2008 Olympic bronze medallist Bair BADENOV (RUS) with 7-8-9-9-8-9 and led 50-48. Both archers lifted their level in the second end. The Italian had 8-8-9-10-10-8 for 53 points, but the Russian shot 10-9-10-9-9-9 for 56 and enjoyed a come-back victory 104-103. The 2008 Champion Viktor RUBAN (UKR) had a tough opponent too. Jens PIEPER (GER) started with 10-8-10-9-9-X10 and led 56-53. The Ukrainian had 9-10-9-9-8-9 for 54 points in the second end, but that was matched by the German with 9-9-8-9-9-10. PIEPER won 110-107. A contender for the Copenhagen Final, Thomas AUBERT (FRA) had a difficult match against Rafal DOBROWOLSKI (POL). The French archer led 57-54 but finished tied at 108-108. He won the shoot-off 10-9. The No.2 ranked shooter in the World Cup ranking, SIMON TERRY (GBR) suffered defeat against the young and promising LI Wenquan (CHN). LI was 4th in Boe last year and won the team bronze at the Olympic Games. He beat TERRY 53-52, 105-101.   BADENOV and PIEPER were tied at 55-55 in their second round match, but then the Russian turned on the heat win 111-103. Jayanta TALUKDAR (IND) proved to be too much for AUBERT in the second round. The Indian won 59-54, 116-105. The No. 1 seed OH Jin-Hyek had some troubles against Daniel MORILLO (ESP). The Korean trailed 54-55 but won 110-107. Another Russia, Baljinima TSYREMPILOV (RUS) enjoyed revenge of the 2007 World Cup Final against Juan Rene SERRANO (MEX). The Russian prevailed once again with 9-10-9-10-9-9 and 9-10-8-10-9-10 to win 112-105. Two contenders for the 2009 World Cup Final, Jean-Charles VALLADONT (FRA) and Mangal Singh CHAMPIA (IND), met in the second round.. The Indian had the best start with 10-10-8-8—8-10 to lead 54-49. The French competitor was better in the second end with 7-X10-10-9-X10-9 for 55 points. However CHAMPIA was solid with 10-9-9-10-8-8 for 54 points and clinched it 108-104.   A decisive match on the road to Copenhagen took place in the 1/8 elimination round between OH and TSYREMPILOV. The Korean had a strong start with 10-10-10-9-10-9 for 58 points, while the Russian could only manage a 53. TSYREMPILOV followed through with a 10-9-10-10-9-10 for 58 points but OH shot 9-X10-X10-10-9-9 for 57 and clinched the match 115-111. Another decisive match was that of CHAMPIA against GIROUILLE. The Indian scored 8-10-9-X10-9-9 for 55 and the French archer had 10-9-8-9-9-9 for 54. In the second end, CHAMPIA lost it with 9-9-7-9-8-9 for only 50 points. GIROUILLE shot 9-9-9-8-10-9 for 54 and won it 108-105. In other matches, BADENOV advanced against KIM Sky (AUS) 57-56, 114-110 and TALUKDAR suffered defeat against IM Dong-Hyun 51-56, 105-114.   Quarterfinals are shot in four ends of three arrows. GIROUILLE had a perfect start with 10-10-10 and took a 2-point lead over OH, 30-28. Then both archers shot 26 points and GIROUILLE maintained his 2-point advantage, 56-54. The French athlete had a 6 in the third, but OH had a 7. All in all, GIROUILLE still led 80-79. He finished with 10-9-8, while OH turned it up with 9-10-10 to clinch a come-back victory 108-107. BADENOV’s journey stopped there as well. He trailed CHEN Wenyuan (CHN) all the way, 28-29, 54-57, 82-85 and 110-112. The Koreans IM and LEE Chang-Hwan offered a great game, too. LEE started best with a 10-9-10 and 10-8-10 to lead 57-55. However he then shot 9-6-8 and IM took advantage of it with 10-8-9 to take the lead 82-80. LEE concluded with 10-9-9 but IM had 9-9-9 to win it 109-108. In the last quarterfinal, CHENG Chu Sian (MAS) beat Dmytro HRACHOV (UKR), 110-104.   The picture for the World Cup Final in Copenhagen was clearer after these quarterfinals. With the points that they earned during the season (or will earn in Shanghai), TALUKDAR, TERRY and GIROUILLE are qualified! The last spot is in contention between GALIAZZO and OH. Only if the Korean finishes 1st in Shanghai will he overtake the Italian in the rankings. The suspense continues!   In the semifinals, OH trailed CHENG at the beginning, 28-29 and 56-57. Then the Korean scored 9-10-10 and evened it at 85-85. He concluded with 10-10-9 and won 114-112 to keep his chances alive! IM and CHEN had a tight match, too. IM took a small advantage at 56-55, before CHEN scored a perfect end of 10-10-10 to take the lead 85-83. He held it in the last end with 9-10-9 for a 113-112 win.   Shanghai’s final matches will be contested on Sunday.  Recurve Women In the first round, Victoriya KOVAL (UKR) was strong with X10-10-9-9-9-8 and 7-10-9-9-10-9 to beat Deonne BRIDGER (AUS), 109-97. OUYANG Ruyu (CHN) led Laura KOURULA (FIN) 51-50 but the Finn managed to tie it at 103-103. KOURALA won 9-8 in the shoot-off to eliminate one of the best Chinese hopes. Alison WILLIAMSON (GBR) was another contender to go down losing to Mikie KANIE (JPN) 98-89. Yulia LOBZHENIDZE (UKR) and Inna STEPANOVA (RUS) went all the way to a shoot-off. The Russian had the best start with 10-9-9-9-9-9 and led 55-53 but the Ukrainian scored 9-X10-9-10-8-8 in the second end to tie at 107-107. She won the tie-break, 10-7.   Some other favourites suffered defeat in the second round. Dola BANERJEE (IND) lost against Aida ROMAN (MEX) 52-52, 105-107. Elena TONETTA (ITA) was beaten by Rimil BURIULY (IND) 53-56, 100-108. Some others failed to advance. KWAK Ye-Ji (KOR) trailed Iwona MARCINKIEWICZ (POL) 55-57 but won 109-106. Pia Carmen LIONETTI (ITA) was tied with CHEN Yeqing (CHN) 55-55 and finally won 111-110. In the Ukrainian dual, KOVAL did not have a good start with 9-9-9-7-7-7. LOBZHENIDZE had 9-9-8-8-9-9 and led 52-48. She was solid in the second end with 9-7-9-10-X10-8 to defeat her teammate, 105-100.   As we stated in our preview, the 1/8 elimination round would be a decisive step on the way to Copenhagen. The Chinese ZHAO shot against the famous Natalia VALEEVA (ITA). The Italian had a small lead after six arrows with 10-8-8-10-10-9 for 55 points, while the Chinese archer had 10-9-9-X10-8-8 for 54 points. Both archers then got into trouble. VALEEVA had 9-9-9-6-8-8 for 49 while ZHAO had 8-9-9-8-8-9 for 51. Barely good enough for the Chinese to eliminate the Italian, 105-104! In another decisive match, JOO did not give much of a chance to LIONETTI. The Korean had 10-10-10-9-9-9 and 10-10-9-9-9-9 for 113. The last Italian had X10-X10-9-9-8-8 and 10-10-9-8-8-8 for 107. Berengere SCHUH (FRA) and KWAK also took an important step towards the Copenhagen Final. The French archer beat KOURULA 56-48, 106-108. The Korean beat Natalya ERDYNIYEVA (RUS) 55-55, 113-102.   YUN took a final step toward Copenhagen when she beat Naomi FOLKARD (GBR). The Korean started with a perfect 60 (!) and continued with 10-9-9 and 10-9-9 to give no chance to the British archer! ZHAO also qualified for the grand Final by beating KANIE. The Chinese led 52-51 and finished at 106-101. Qualification also managed by SCHUH who beat Aida ROMAN (MEX) 54-49, 107-100. The last Copenhagen berth had to be decided between KWAK and JOO. The winner in Antalya, KWAK, had the best start with X10-10-9 and 9-X10-X10 and took a comfortable lead 58-50. JOO gave it all later on with a perfect 10-X10-10 and 10-10-X10 but that was too late. KWAK had 9-10-X10 and 8-9-9 to clinch it 113-110!   Adding the points they will earn at the end of the Shanghai competition on the World Cup ranking, the four semifinalists have qualified for the World Cup Final in Copenhagen! It was therefore very interesting to follow the semifinals in Shanghai. YUN continued to shoot really well. She took the lead 54-53 and then scored a 59 (!) to win the match, 113-107! KWAK had a bad start and trailed SCHUH 50-54. The French archer was solid through the match and finished with 8-X10-9 and 9-X10-9 to win 109-107!   Compound Men It was an all Chinese duel in the 1/32 elimination round between GUO Yan and WANG Mingrui. GUO had the best start with 10-10-9-10-9-10 and led 58-55. However GUO shot only 7-9-9-10-9-9 and WANG shot 9-9-10-10-8 to have a come-back victory, 111-110.   The clash of the second round was between the 2008 World Cup Final winner, Dietmar TRILLUS (CAN) and Sebastian BRASSEUR (FRA). The French archer had the best start and led 59-57. However, the Canadian was once again as cool as a cucumber. He scored 59 points in the second half whereas BRASSEUR shot 10-8-9-9-10-10. TRILLUS had a come-back victory 116-115. The two other French archers were shooting against one another and Pierre Julien DELOCHE beat Dominique GENET, 59-56, 116-114. Wesley GATES (RSA) had to go through a double shoot-off versus teammate Riaan CROWTHER. They were tied at 112-112, then at 9-9, before GATES prevailed 10-9. The No. 2 seed Martin DAMSBO (DEN) almost suffered an early elimination once again. He was tied with E. J. COJUANGO (PHI) at 113-113, before he won the tie-break 9-8. The wind had picked up a bit during the second end, which did not make it easy for the archers.   In the 1/8 elimination round DAMSBO met last year’s finalist in Lausanne, Patrizio HOFER (SUI). The Swiss archer had the best start with 10-10-9-10-9-9 and led 57-54. He could not quite keep this up with a 55-point second end (9-9-9-9-10-9). DAMSBO took the chance to tie the game, scoring 58 points (10-10-9-10-9-10). The match was tied at 112-112. This time the Danish archer did not survive the shoot-off. HOFER won 9-8. The No. 1 seed Peter ELZINGA (NED) was upset by Angel RAMIREZ (MEX). The Dutch athlete led 58-57, but the Mexican turned it around with a 115-114 victory! These eliminations will be costly for the race to Copenhagen. On his side, Jorge JIMENEZ (ESA) barely kept his hopes alive. He trailed Stephen CLIFTON (NZL) 56-57 but managed to tie the match at 114-114. They both shot a 10 in the first arrow of the shoot-off. In the second arrow, only JIMENEZ was perfect (10-9). All the other contenders for a place in the Copenhagen Grand Final went through and the race for points is very tight!   The quarterfinals were decisive for the qualification to Copenhagen. JIMENEZ and Patrick COGHLAN (AUS) were tied almost the way: 30-29, 58-58, 86-86 and 114-114. JIMENEZ was again perfect in the shoot-off and won 10-9! A grand finalist in 2006 and 2007, JIMENEZ is heading back to a World Cup Final! In the other clash of the titans, PAGNI had a perfect start with 10-10-10 while TRILLUS had 9-8-9. TRILLUS made up one point in the second end with a 10-9-10, compared to 9-9-10 for PAGNI. The score was at 58-55 and then both archers scored 29. TRILLUS put the pressure in the last end with 10-9-10 but PAGNI held it with a 10-8-9 and won the match 114-113. HOFER led GATES 29-27 but the South African tied it at 56-56. Then they were at 84-84 and 113-113! In the shoot-off, HOFER was perfect to win 10-9! In the last quarterfinal, Vladimir FEDOSOV (RUS) beat RAMIREZ 118-112.   As a result of the quarterfinals, JIMENEZ, PAGNI and HOFER joined Braden GELLENTHIEN (USA) in the 2009 World Cup Final!   JIMENEZ continued to take care of business. He scored ends of 30, 30, 29 and 28 to win his semifinal against FEDOSOV, 117-115. PAGNI was even better with ends of 30, 30, 29 and 29. HOFER also had two perfect ends but he could not match the Italian with 28, 30, 30 and 28. PAGNI won 118-116!  Compound Women The women entered directly into the 1/16 elimination round. The No. 1 in the World Cup ranking Olga BOSCH (VEN) trailed Madeleine FERRIS (AUS). The Australian started with 10-8-10-9-10-10 to lead 57-55. The wind blew a bit stronger in the second end and FERRIS could only score 49 points. BOSCH shot 10-7-8-10-9-8 for 52 points and just prevailed 107-106. Sofia GONCHAROVA (RUS) was solid with X10-9-10-9-9-9, while Lilies HELIARTI (INA) had 10-X10-9-9-10-7. The Russian led 56-55 and followed through with X10-X10-10-X10-9-8 to clinch the match 113-106. All the other favourites prevailed.   The two leaders of the World Cup ranking, BOSCH and Ivana BUDEN (CRO) suffered eliminations in the 1/8 eliminations. Linda OCHOA (MEX) was rock solid to score X10-10-10-10-9-9 and X10-X10-X10-X10-10-8 to beat BOSCH 116-111 (BOSCH did not miss the yellow but did not score enough 10s). Jorina COETZEE (RSA) beat BUDEN 111-101. GONCHAROVA had to shoot a tie-break against Pacale LEBECQUE (FRA) after their match was tied at 110-110. The Russian won the shoot-off 9-8. Another favourite, Camilla SOEMOD (DEN) had to go through a double shoot-off! Her match versus Ana CRISANTO (MEX) ended tied at 113-113. Then both archers shot 10s, before SOEMOD prevailed 10-9.   In the quarterfinals, OCHOA got her revenge against GONCHAROVA, 112-105. The other quarterfinals were very important for the race to Copenhagen. Anastasia ANASTASIO (ITA) led COETZEE 56-54 and 83-80. COETZEE put pressure with X10-10-9 but the Italian held it with 9-9-9 to win 110-109. Nicky HUNT (GBR) had a strong start with 30 and 29 to led SOEMOD 59-57. However the Brit fell apart in the third with 9-8-8. SOEMOD tied it at 84-84 with X10-10-7. The Dane finished stronger with 10-10-9 and clinched the match 113-112. Albina LOGINOVA (RUS) was rock solid in her quarterfinal with ends of 29, 29, 28 and 28. She beat Luzmary GUEDEZ (VEN) 114-112.   In the semifinals, OCHOA had the best start against ANASTASIO, 29-28. However the Italian progressively turned around to lead 86-83 and won 113-111! In the other semifinal, LOGINOVA led 29-28 but SOEMOED managed to tie at 88-88. The Dane pulled through again in the last end with a 116-114 victory!   Here is the situation in the compound women’s World Cup ranking! HUNT has 51 points and is going to Copenhagen. The winner of Sunday’s final between ANASTASIO and SOEMOD will qualify as well. The loser will be eliminated! The last two spots will be distributed between BUDEN (who has a strong edge), GUEDEZ and BOSCH. They all have 49 points in the World Cup ranking and the tie will be broken based on the FITA World Ranking after Shanghai’s event.   The suspense goes on until Shanghai’s final matches that will be contested on Sunday!   Didier MIEVILLE FITA Communication