Russia to shoot for first World Championships mixed team gold medal Belek - Tuesday, October 01, 2013 Confident performances mean Korean recurve archers OH Jin Hyek and KI Bo Bae, and Italian compounders Sergio PAGNI and Marcella TONIOLI, will shoot for their second-straight mixed team golds. Recurve The golden Korean pair made of reigning Olympic champions KI Bo Bae and OH Jin Hyek, both first-place qualifiers, advanced to the gold medal match thanks to victories over Colombia, Great Britain, and Chinese Taipei. Their quarter-final score of 152 was the highest of any recurve mixed team. After posting 149 points in the first round, India suffered a major setback, scoring only 137 points in the quarter-finals. That resulted in a loss to Chinese Taipei, who will shoot for the bronze medal. USA and Mexico looked strong on the other side of the brackets, and faced off in a semi-final featuring three Olympic medallists. Brady ELLISON and Khatuna LORIG (photo), who have won World Cup events together, started fast against Aída ROMAN and Luis ALVAREZ. The result: a three-point margin and a win (146-143). ALVAREZ confessed to finding it “quite tough to come back and shoot again after shooting the qualification round all day”. Defending silver medallist ROMAN admitted that she would have “needed to shoot much better on the last arrow” of the semi-finals (7). Mexico will fight for the bronze medal against Chinese Taipei, who they defeated easily at the Shanghai World Cup earlier this year. In that occasion and in Turin 2011, ROMAN was paired with Juan René SERRANO. The gold medal match will feature Korea and the United States. Korea leads the series 3-1 since 2010. For KI, it is a shot at a second consecutive mixed team world title: she won gold in 2011 with IM Dong Hyun. Compound The United States - seeded n°1 - suffered a difficult first round match against Germany, eventually prevailing 20-17 in a shoot-off after coming back from a four-point deficit in the last end. In the quarter-finals they faced Croatia, who had just upset World Cup Final winners France. A four-point lead built in the first end saw Erika JONES and Jesse BROADWATER cruise through to the semi-finals. Defending world champions Marcella TONIOLI and Sergio PAGNI outscored Colombia in the first round and South Africa in the quarter-finals to meet them. Both feared pairs on paper, but not equal in experience shooting as a pair. Defending World Champions, the Italian archers won two World Cup stages earlier this year. On the other target: JONES, experienced and decorated in the mixed team event, was paired with BROADWATER, who had never taken part in this event before. With alternative line-ups the United States had beaten Italy 7 times against 1 loss since 2010 - but this match was revenge for the World Games final, where JONES and Reo WILDE claimed an easy win. Italy started strong: and a disappointing 34 points from USA’s second end left them 6 points behind at the halfway mark. They could not make it back: victory 153-147 to Italy. Despite having competed in the World Cup Final only last weekend, PAGNI asserted he felt comfortable: “Since we stayed in Europe, it wasn’t so difficult to come back and fight again, against the same adversary, in the semi-finals.” The second semi-final featured a pair quickly becoming one of the world’s best. Russians Albina LOGINOVA and Alexander DAMBAEV (main photo), second at the Wroclaw World Cup, were seeded n°2 after qualification and had the highest score in the first round at 156. Their opponents: an Indian team that qualified with victories over two strong teams, the Netherlands and Korea. A perfect start (40) by Russia shot them into a four-point lead, a buffer that led them to a 150-147 victory and a shot at gold. With the series tied at two victories apiece for Russia and Italy since 2011, it is a hard match to predict. India and the United States will face off for bronze. For India, Russia and the United States, the weekend’s medal matches will be their first shot at a World Championships medal in the event.
Posted on: Wed, 02 Oct 2013 00:17:06 +0000
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