7 September 2009 - Teams Day in Ulsan!

 
Recurve Men The silver medallists at the Beijing Olympic Games, Italy, had the best start over Chinese Taipei, 10-9-9-9-X10-9 to lead 56-53. However, Chinese Taipei replied with a 57 in the second end (9-X10-X10-9-10-9) to tie the game at 110. Italy then shot a bad end of 50 (9-10-7-9-6-9) and trailed 160-165. Although the Italians finished with a 56 (10-10-9-10-9-8), Chinese Taipei did even better with a 57 (X10-X10-10-X10-8-9) and clinched the match 222-216. India has ambition this year and they showed it over Malaysia, 53-52, 109-104, 163-158 and 218-204. In the duel between the No. 8 and No. 9 seeds, Russia and Great Britain, the Russians had a slight lead at the half, 107-105. However the British team managed to tie it at 216. In the shoot-off, Russia was almost perfect to advance to next round, 29-27. The No. 11 Australians tied the No. 6 China at 216 after regulation. Then they tied again at 29 a piece with the first three arrows of the shoot-off. In the second shoot-off CHEN, XING and XUE had a perfect 30 to finally beat the Australians who shot 27.  
In the quarterfinals, Russia took the lead after the first end against Korea, 53-50. It was an unusually low end for the Koreans and they quickly reacted. They scored 10-X10-10-9-8-10 in the second end to reduce the gap to 107-108. Then they earned 10-10-9-10-10-10 (59!) to take command of the match, 166-161. They concluded with 9-9-10-X10-9-9 to win it 222-214. The match between France and the USA was tense. The USA started well to lead 58-55. They then tied at 112-112 before the Americans again took a 1-point lead 168-167. However, they finished only with a 52 and France scored a 58 to win 225-220! The other matches were upsets! Japan continued to surprise and beat Chinese Taipei, 56-52, 111-107, 168-165, 222-218! China took out India, 54-55, 112-108, 168-163 and 221-216!  
Korea continued its way to the final in great fashion as they actually tied the match world record in semifinals! They scored 10-9-9-10-10-X10, 9-9-10-10-9-9, 10-X10-10-10-X10-9 and 10-10-9-9-10-10 for 231 points! Japan did not do badly with 226 points, but not enough against the powerhouse Korea. France did not offer any chance to China in the other semifinal. The French athletes led all the way 56-55, 113-107, 168-163 and 223-212.  
Recurve Women Russia qualified in only 15th position but they have reached the final of the last two World Cup stages. Their match against China was therefore expected to be tight. The No. 2 China had the best start with 10-10-9-8-9-9 and 10-9-10-9-9-9 and build up a lead at 110-105. However, China then got into a lot of trouble, shooting 10-7-9-9-8-7, while Russia shot 10-9-9-10-8-9 to erase the gap. The game was tied at 160. The Chinese athletes finished with 9-9-7-7-10-8 and the Russians were slightly better with 10-9-9-8-8-8 to take out the No.2 seed, 212-210! France and the USA were tied at 55 after six arrows. Then France built up a small lead at 111-108 with 9-8-9-10-10-X10. They continued strongly with 9-9-9-10-10-9 to increase the gap 167-161 and clinched the match 222-214. Italy and Germany’s match was about the same style. The match was tight, Italy leading 54-53, then 108-106. Then the Italians shot better with 9-9-9-9-9-10 and 10-10-10-9-8-10 to win 220-212. Two other upsets took place. Japan beat the No. 3 Chinese Taipei: 163-161 after 18 arrows, 214-212 at the end. Belarus took out No. 4 Ukraine 157-149, 210-201.  
In the quarterfinals, Russia continued on its way over France. The Russians were not brilliant but solid with ends of 10-X10-7-9-X10-9, X10-10-9-8-9-9, 9-8-9-8-9-8 and 9-X10-9-9-9-X10. They led all the way, 55-51, 108-105, 159-157, 215-204. Japan took advantage of a bad start for Italy to lead 52-48 (two 6’s for the Italians). They shot another one in the second end but they managed to score five 10s with it. The Italians still trailed 104-105. Japan then shot an end of 58 (10-9-10-10-10-9), one point better than the 57 of Italy (10-9-9-10-9-10). Japan led 163-161 and concluded with 10-8-9-10-8-10 to win 218-215! Belarus was the other surprising team as they beat Georgia 208-205. Finally Korea beat Poland 220-207.  
The Japanese women had better luck than the men. The team shot against Russia in the semifinal and continued with style to lead 53-50 and 109-106. Russia then shot a good 10-9-10-9-9-9 to tie the match at 162. They finished with 9-10-7-9-8-9 for 214 points, while the Japanese athletes achieved 10-10-8-10-10-8 to make their way to the gold medal final! In the other semifinal, Belarus could not hold it together against Korea. The Koreans won 55-55, 112-111, 168-162, 226-216.  
Compound Men In the first round, Canada and France had a really tight match. France led 56-55 but Canada followed with a 58 to take a 1-point lead, 113-112. Then they both shot 55 and the Canadians still led, 168-167. They concluded with a good 58 but the French athletes did even better with a 59 to tie the match at 226! In the shoot-off, France only achieved 10-9-8, while PARENTEAU had 10, TRILLUS a 9 and TATARYN another 9 to hand victory to Canada. El Salvador started very strong with 10-10-9-10-10-10 and built a 5-point lead over Italy, 59-54 - too much to come back at this level in this category. Moreover, El Salvador caught a few liners to score ends of 57, 57 and 57 to clinch the match 230-226.  
In the quarterfinals, Mexico met Russia. Both teams did not miss the gold! Russia shot 59, 57, 59 and 58. Too good for Mexico who had 57, 57, 57 and trailed 171-175 after 18 arrows. Although the Mexicans had a 59 of their own to finish the match, it was too late. Russia won 233-230. The USA scored even higher to defeat Great Britain, 236-230. El Salvador won a tight match against Germany, 59-58, 116-113, 173-171 and 230-229. Finland continued to surprise by beating Canada 55-56, 112-111, 170-166 and 227-224.  
Russia and El Salvador met in the semifinals. The Russians were again in superb form and did not leave the gold zone once. They took an early lead 58-55 then both teams shot an end of 57. Russia still led 115-112, then they caught a couple of “10 liners” to score 10-10-X10-10-9-10 and increase the gap to six points, 174-168. Both teams concluded with ends of 57. Final score 231-225 to Russia! In the other semifinal, the USA scored 236 again to defeat Finland on 223.  
Compound Women It was a Latino duel between Venezuela and Mexico. The Mexicans with the OCHOA sisters and CRISANTO were impressive as they barely missed the gold for the entire match. 9-9-10-9-10-9, 10-9-9-9-10-9, 9-8-10-10-9-9 and 8-9-10-9-9-10 for 222 points. GUEDEZ-FLORES-BOSCH were not so consistent, 8-10-10-9-10-10, 8-10-9-8-9-9, 9-10-7-10-9-10 and 8-9-7-10-9-8 for only 217 points. The No. 2 seed Russia was in jeopardy against New Zealand. The Russians trailed by one point halfway through, but they just managed to reverse the situation, 165-164 and then 220-219. The 2007 world champions Belgium were tied with the USA at 167 after 18 arrows. The Americans just pulled through in the last end, 221-220.  
In the quarterfinals, Russia and Great Britain were tied at 57 then the Russians made the difference, 112-109, 171-163 and 226-217. In the other match, the no. 1 seed Korea beat Sweden, 227-214, Mexico defeated Germany 221-216 and the USA beat Great Britain, 222-215.  
The no. 1 seeds Korea shot really well in their semifinal versus Mexico. They were initially tied at 57-57 then Korea took the lead 112-110 thanks to a 7 and 8 shot by Mexico. The Koreans did not let up with 10-9-10-9-9-9 and 9-10-10-10-10-9 to keep the 2-point gap. Korea goes on to the gold final on the score of 226-224. In the other semifinal, the No. 2 Russia prevailed over the No. 3 USA. The first end was tight but then the Russians made the difference: 58-57, 114-109, 172-163 and 229-219.  
The bronze and gold medal finals will be contested Tuesday afternoon at 13:00 local time.  
Didier MIEVILLE FITA Communication