Iranian Compound Women Team reaches first final

 Recurve teams had the traditional 24 arrow match; best total score wins. Compound teams experienced for the first time the Compound Round: four sets of three arrows on a Hit/Miss target placed at 50 metres. The three archers per team shoot one arrow each per set. The team with the most set points wins.   Recurve Men’s Team The No. 1 seed India prevailed easily in their first two matches, beating Belarus 224-211, then Russia 224-219. They suffered more against Japan in the semifinal. They trailed 53-58 and then 107-111. However, Japan finished with two low ends of 51, while India did 56 and 53. India qualified for the gold final with the score of 216-213. In the bottom part of the draw, the No. 2 seed Ukraine first beat Spain 222-213. The second match against Great Britain was tighter, but Ukraine still prevailed 224-221. They met the No. 6 seed USA in the semifinal. The Americans took the lead 55-53 and then 112-108. They kept this 4-point advantage in the third end, 166-162. However, Ukraine had a superb last end with 58 points. They tied the match at 220-220. The three archers of each team had to shot one extra arrow. Butch JOHNSON first scored a 9 for the USA that was equalized by the Olympic champion Viktor RUBAN for Ukraine. ELLISON shot a 10 for USA and HRACHOV did the same for Ukraine! In the last arrow, Vic WUNDERLE (USA) had a 9 and Markyan IVASHKO could not do better than an 8. USA went to the final!  Recurve Women’s Team The No. 1 seed China was solid all way through. They beat Ukraine 219-198, Great Britain 215-210 and the USA photo 214-208 (score evolution 50-51, 104-106, 159-158, and 214-208). In the Final, China will meet the No. 2 seed Russia. The Russians were equally impressive beating Denmark 214-207, France 217-208 and Georgia 206-201 (evolution: 53-49, 108-100. 159-152 and 206-201). The No. 11 seed Georgia was nevertheless the surprise of this session and will meet the USA for bronze on Thursday night’s team finals!   Compound Men’s Team The archers will need to train more on the Hit/Miss Compound Round to be perfect. In total, all the men and the women’s teams shot 176 sets during today’s competitions. Only 46 sets were perfect, meaning 25% of the total. However, the matches were tight. A total of 32 matches out of 48 went to the limit of four sets. Moreover, six went to a shoot-off and one to a double shoot-off.  The most thrilling match was probably the semifinal of USA versus Great Britain. The Americans took the first set, 3 hits to 2. Then the Brits won the next two sets, 3-2 and 3-1. The Americans tied the match when they won the last set 2-1. Each team won two sets, earning two points per set. The set score was tied at 4-4. In the first shoot-off, both team had 2 hits. In the second shoot-off, the USA were perfect to win the match 5 set points to 4. In the final they will meet South Africa photo which has been rock solid the whole day. They won their first match 5 set points to 3 against Porto Rico. Then they won 5-4 against Denmark (2-1 in the shoot-off). Finally they beat the Netherlands in the semifinal 5-3!   Compound Women Team The most cheerful match was the one Iran against the USA. Both teams were fully behind their archers and cheered with all their energy and fair-play. It was a thrilling match. They tied the first set. Then Iran took the lead 3 set points to 1. The USA tied at 3-3 and the last set was tied, bringing the team at 4-4. In the shoot-off, the Iranian women were perfect to advance to their first final at a World Cup! To note, the Iranian Men’s Team won the World Cup Stage in Ulsan 2007. Iran will meet Russia in the final. The Russian was solid beating Turkey 5-3 and Mexico 5-1.   The team finals will take place on Thursday on Antalya’s beach!   Didier MIEVILLE World Archery Communication