LOGINOVA reclaims gold while DELOCHE climbs to the top Russia’s Albina LOGINOVA returned to the top spot of the podium while France’s Pierre-Julien DELOCHE achieved the first major individual title of his career. The men’s final promised to be an epic showdown between Pierre-Julien DELOCHE (FRA) and Sergio PAGNI (ITA), who had both scored 150 points to qualify for this final. PAGNI’s new European record in qualifications showed he is in great form – and so is DELOCHE, as exemplified by his team gold medal at the Medellin World Cup and individual silver at the World Games. Both men are also qualified for the World Cup Finals. Historically, the odds were in favour of the Italian archer, winner of all his four previous encounters with DELOCHE. Once this gold medal final began, there was no stopping these two men, who each shot 29s in the first two ends, making it a 58-all match. The French archer dropped five points in the third end, trailing 85-86 – and then reacted by shooting only 10s, while PAGNI failed to apply enough pressure for a comeback. DELOCHE’s (photo) victory at 145-143 brings him the first major individual gold medal of his career. The bronze medal match was very tight between Alexander DAMBAEV (RUS) and Dominique GENET (FRA), who is likely the only archer in history to lose a match (his semi-final) despite scoring only 10s – fifteen during the match and one in the shoot-off. Winner of several individual World Cup medals in the past, GENET was not quite so lucky today. Both archers shot extremely well, matching each other arrow for arrow until the final end, when an 8 by GENET allowed the 24-year-old DAMBAEV to win the bronze, his first individual World Cup medal. The women’s final featured the top two archers in the world, Albina LOGINOVA (main photo) and Erika JONES (USA). This match had special significance for LOGINOVA, who lost the top spot of the world ranking to JONES earlier this summer. The American archer was very confident thanks to her recent World Games victory and new world record, which she tied again this week in qualifications. These athletes have met eight times in the past four years, with JONES leading the victory count 5-3. But it was LOGINOVA who won their most recent encounter last year. And today, the double world champion led through most of the match, but the American archer came back on the last arrow to tie the score. With a 10-9 victory in the one-arrow shoot-off, LOGINOVA achieved her first major individual victory since Antalya 2012. For JONES, it is the third individual World Cup silver this season, after Shanghai and Medellin. “Erika is very strong this year and I am even happier to have won because I had not been shooting very well this season”, confessed the world champion. “What’s more, it gives me more confidence for the two upcoming competitions that are the most important for me: the World Cup Finals and the World Championships. I hope to further improve my form before then.” The bronze medal match had special significance. Korea’s CHOI Bomin, runner-up at the 2007 World Cup Final, had disappeared from the international scene after that, until this season. With a fifth place finish in Shanghai and ninth in Antalya this year, she had no choice but to win the bronze medal today to qualify for the Paris Final. In her first encounter with Kristina BERGER (GER),
Posted on: Sat, 24 Aug 2013 17:12:17 +0000
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