Archery World Cup arrives in South America for the first time The city of Medellin, Colombia, Antioquia department, will have the honour to host the third stage of the 2013 World Cup for the first time in the South American continent from 15 to 21 July. The event is already a great success thanks to the work accomplished by the Colombian Archery Federation and the local authorities which have delivered multiple promotion events, mostly for the youth. Local organisers already registered more than 70 accredited journalists and photographers. The excellent results obtained by the Colombian compound women archers at the second World Cup stage in Antalya, certainly boosted the enthusiasm for this event. Medellin is experiencing an economic, cultural and social fast-growing process. At the beginning of the year, Medellin was chosen as most innovative city in the world due to its advances in politics, education and social development. Despite last week’s defeat in the last round of voting for the 2018 Youth Olympic Games, host city, Medellin, remains a serious candidate with a strong potential for a new bid. The archery competition will be an excellent showcase for revealing the organisational and operational potential of the city. Qualification and preliminary elimination rounds will take place from 15-19 July at the Luis-Alberto Villegas baseball stadium, located in the Atanasio Girardot sport complex (main photo). The stadium also hosts famous football teams Atlético Nacional and Independiente. The finals will be staged on 20-21 July at the foot of an emblematic city centre building, the Edificio Inteligente. Who knows which athletes will win the first ever World Cup medals in South America? One thing is certain, the absence of the ever dominate Korean team provides mouth-watering opportunities for the other nations to get on the podium. Compound women World Archery wanted to pay tribute to Colombia’s performance who won their first World Cup medals in Antalya. Sara LOPEZ was a popular winner of this stage with her double gold medal in the team and individual events. In the team event final, Colombia defeated the highly experienced Americans. Sara LOPEZ, Maja MARCEN (photo) and Alejandra USQUIANO overcame Carli COCHRAN, Erika JONES and Jamie VAN NATTA with a historic gold medal for Colombia. LOPEZ won a second precious metal a few hours later thanks to her victory over current first ranked World Cup athlete: Korean SEOK Ji Hyun. Paisas cannot wait to see new victories of their fellow-citizens and fellow-countrywomen. Nevertheless, favourites Albina LOGINOVA (RUS), Linda OCHOA (MEX), Pascale LEBECQUE (FRA) and other big names will also attend this event with the aim of making their mark. LOGINOVA and LEBECQUE could meet up again in the individual final, or in the team final, as in Antalya. Compound men New faces disrupted the hierarchy in Antalya: a first ever final between Patrick LAURSEN (DEN) and Georg DOLLINGER (AUT), with the Dane taking victory erase earlier predictions. LAURSEN made his way to the final after eliminating two big names, Rodger WILLETT JR. (USA) and his teammate Martin DAMSBO amongst others. DOLLINGER beaten Peter ELZINGA (NED), Christophe DOUSSOT (FRA) and Braden GELLENTHIEN (USA). LAURSEN also left the Turkey with two gold medals, thanks to the Danish teams’ victory over the United States. Reo WILDE (USA), Amir KAZEMPOOR (IRI), Sergio PAGNI (ITA) and Pierre-Julien DELOCHE (FRA) will aim to be at their very best under the Colombian sun. In the mixed team event, Italy’s Sergio PAGNI and Marcella TONIOLI beat India’s Rajar CHAUHAN and Manjudha SOY. Canada, with Dietmar TRILLUS and Ashley WALLACE taking bronze after beating Iran’s Mino ABEDI and KAZEMPOOR. Recurve women Young Chinese athlete CUI Yuanyuan will aim to repeat her excellent gold winning ways in Antalya. With the absence of the Koreans, who currently rank after CUI from the results in Antalya, a large number of the established recurve women will be wanting to take gold in Medellin such as, Aida ROMAN (MEX), Deepika KUMARI (IND), FANG Yuting (CHN) and Inna STEPANOVA (RUS, photo). Cyrielle COTRY (FRA), Khatuna LORIG (USA), Céline SCHOBINGER and local athlete Ana-María RENDON should not be forgotten. The Mexicans, leaded by Aida ROMAN, will want revenge after losing to India in the first round of the team event in Antalya. With the absence of the Korean team, who won gold in Antalya, might mean this rematch could be in the final of Medellin unless there will be some unforeseen surprises in the South American air. In Antalya, ROMAN brought back home a bronze medal in the mixed team event with her teammate Juan-René SERRANO. An irresistible desire of adding new medals to her records can be expected in a city that she is particularly fond of. Medellin was the gate where she started with her 2012 Olympic dream. Recurve men Mexico could experience a good Colombian week as SERRANO also finished Antalya’s second stage as double medallist. He was only beaten in the final by invincible OH Jin Hyek (KOR), double champion this year in Shanghai and Antalya. The Mexican will figure among the big favourites but he won’t be the only one with hopes to take advantage of the Koreans absence. His teammate Luis ALVAREZ; Chinese ZHANG Jianping, bronze medallist in Antalya; Italian Mauro NESPOLI; Frenchman Gaël PREVOST; Malaysian Khairul Anuar MOHAMAD; Dutch Rick VAN DER VEN; Russian Bair TSYBEKDORZHIEV; Americans Brady ELLISON and Jake KAMINSKI; or perhaps a local surprise with youngster Daniel PACHECO. In Antalya men’s team event, the Americans surprisingly bite the dust in quarter-finals but it is likely that they will want to improve on this performance in Colombia. The Chinese and the Mexicans are also well positioned for a strong medal challenge. One is certain, once the bows are taken out of their bow cases and arrows fly towards the targets, Latin American surprises will emerge in this brand new World Cup stage location by the equator.
Posted on: Wed, 10 Jul 2013 22:39:17 +0000
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