World Cup: finalists are emerging Lausanne - Friday, August 09, 2013 With one stage of the 2013 Archery World Cup remaining, in Wroclaw, Poland, there are still lots of athletes in the hunt for the eight tickets per category to the World Cup Final in Paris on 21-22 September. The Archery World Cup has been in existence since 2006. The Finals, which are played over a weekend at the end of the season, are a unique occasion for athletes to shine in emblematic venues in each of the organising cities. Mayapan (MEX), Dubai (UAE), Lausanne (SUI), Copenhagen (DEN), Edinburgh (GBR), Istanbul (TUR) and Tokyo (JPN) have successively hosted the best of the best international archers. After the three or four qualifying stages that are contested in different cities and countries, the best eight archers per category meet in the Finals within a knock-out system beginning with the quarter-finals. Archers are assigned to brackets based on their qualification scores from the World Cup rankings. A maximum of two archers per country, per category, may enter the Finals. Moreover, the host country, this year France, gets an automatic wild card per division. In case of parity between two or more athletes, the world ranking will determine who qualifies for the Final. Compound men The American title-holder Braden GELLENTHIEN (winner in Shanghai), 61 points; his teammate, silver medallist 2012 and winner in Medellin Reo WILDE (photo), 56 points; and Danish archer Martin DAMSBO with 54 points are the top three ranked archers, unreachable by their opponents and mathematically qualified for Paris. Also in the running are Korean MIN Lihong and Dan Patrick LAURSEN (winner in Antalya), with 25 points; Indian Rajat CHAUHAN, 23 points; and Austrian Georg DOLLINGER, 21 points, are momentarily qualified. Look for the French team members - Dominique GENET, Christophe DOUSSOT, and Pierre-Julien DELOCHE (silver medallist at the World Games) – to try to pack a punch in the Final. Norwegian Morten BOE, Iranian Amir KAZEMPOOR, Italian Sergio PAGNI, Dutch Peter ELZINGA, Mexican Gerardo ALVARADO, and Korean CHOI Yong Hee round out the group of male compound athletes who could make a run at a spot in the Final in Paris. Julio-Ricardo FIERRO (MEX), 2012 bronze medallist, is right now far from being qualified Compound women As with the men, the top three ranked women are comfortably positioned to reach the finals. However, bad results for them, combined with dramatic finishes from their pursuers, could shake up the rankings considerably. World Games champion Erika JONES (USA), 47 points; Korean SEOK Ji Hyun (winner in Shanghai), 46 points; and this season’s surprise - Colombian archer Sara LOPEZ (winner in Antalya), with 40 points - seem to have locked down their tickets to Paris. Russian world champion Albina LOGINOVA (photo), 31 points; Colombian Alejandra USQUIANO (winner in Medellin) and Korean YOUN So Jung, at 25 points each; and French athletes Pascale LEBECQUE (7th), 23 points and Sophie DODEMONT (12th), 17 points are the other five athletes currently qualified. YOUN is questionable for Paris as she doesn’t figure anymore in the Korean selection and could be overtaken by teammate CHOI Bomin, 10th with 18 points. Look for hot competition for the last spots from German Kristina BERGER, and Mexican Linda OCHOA, two formidable competitors. Other possibilities: Mexican Gabriela TREVINO, American Carli COCHRAN, Iranian Mino ABEDI, Italian Marcella TONIOLI, Frenchwoman Sandrine VANDIONANT, and Dutch archer Inge VAN CASPEL. 2012 American medallists Jamie VAN NATTA (gold) and Christie COLIN (bronze) will be absent this year. Brit Danielle BROWN, 2012 silver medallist, will compete in Wroclaw, but with no chance to qualify for Paris. Recurve men (main photo SERRANO, OH et ZHANG) 2012 gold medallist KIM Woojin is not part of the Korean national team this year. The power of Land of the Morning Calm remains entirely with OH Jin Hyek, who tops the world rankings as well as the World Cup’s. He totals 50 points and can even afford an absence at Colombia’s third stage, while maintaining his position as the uncontested leader thanks to his victories in Shanghai and Antalya. Behind him, Italian Mauro NESPOLI (39 points) is the other qualified athlete. China, which will be absent in Poland, currently has two potentially qualified athletes: ZHANG Jianping, with 36 points, and DAI Xiaoxiang, 25 points. For ZHANG, qualification probabilities are still high, but DAI (winner in Medellin) will most likely lose his spot. Malaysian Khairul Anuar MOHAMAD, 25 points, is in the same situation as his team will not be travelling to Wroclaw. Brady ELLISON (USA), 2012 silver medallist and recent field archery finalist at the World Games, and Korean LEE Seungyun, both at 25 points, are also amongst the potentially qualified, as with Frenchman and 2012 bronze medallist Gaël PREVOST, who counts with 17 points. Mexican Juan-René SERRANO, Luxembourgish Jeff HENCKELS and Korean archer JIN Jae Wang, 21 points, could become the immediate beneficiaries of the Chinese and Malaysian absences. Japanese Shungo TABATA, Russian Bair TSYBEKDORZHIEV, Frenchman Jean-Charles VALLADONT (champion at the World Games field archery), Korean IM Dong Hyun, Dutch Rick VAN DER VEN, Mexican Luis ALVAREZ, Indian Atanu DAS and Ukrainian Viktor RUBAN, will all battle for the remaining spots. Recurve women Korean YUN Ok-He, winner in Shanghai, and Chinese CUI Yuanyuan are the only athletes who have already secured their spot for Paris: YUN ranks 1st with 46 points and CUI is 2nd with 43 points. Further down the list are Russian Inna STEPANOVA (winner in Medellin), 35 points; Indian Deepika KUMARI (photo), 2012 silver medallist, and Korean JOO Hyun-Jung, 33 points; Mexican Aida ROMAN, 27 points; and American Miranda LEEK, 21 points, all clinching a qualifying place so far. Cyrielle COTRY, 35th world ranked, seems poised to defend the French colours in Paris. 2012 gold medallist KI Bo Bae (KOR) is currently in contention for a place in Paris, but with her 23 points, she’ll have to perform at least better than her teammate JOO if she hopes to see the Eiffel Tower. The ranking continues with Colombian Ana-María RENDON, Italian Natalia VALEEVA, Indian Bombayla Devi LAISHRAM, Ukrainian Anastasia PAVLOVA, Japanese Ayano KATO, Denmark’s Carina CHRISTIANSEN, and Italian Jessica TOMASI. The 2012 bronze medallist CHOI Hyeonju, no longer part of Korea’s national team, will also be absent this year. Mixed teams In recurve, the host country will face one of these countries which are very close to each other: China, USA, Mexico, India and Korea. In compound, Italy has already secured its spot in the final against France. Follow all these athletes at the last World Cup stage in Wroclaw from 19-25 August, the last qualifying event for the World Cup Final in Paris. Go to the current World Cup rankings. World Archery Communication
Posted on: Thu, 15 Aug 2013 17:10:47 +0000
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