Polish Women Upset Germany to Make Final Four

The eighth seeded recurve women’s team in Ankara, Poland upset the brackets to secure a gold medal match berth. Karina Lipiarska-Palka, Natalia Lesniak and Wioleta Myszor upset the top ranked German trio in the quarterfinals to spring themselves into the final four.

Before that, it was a quick, 5-1, dispatch of Belarus in the first round.

Then Lisa Unruh, Karina Winter and Veronika Haidn Tschalova, the challenge of the day for the Polish women, lined-up opposite on the shooting line.

Leading at 4-0, Poland let Germany back into the match. Unruh, Winter and Tschalova caught up, drawing the match at four-each, and the match went to a tiebreaker.

“Our start in the quarterfinals was weak, but we managed to catch-up,” said Unruh.

“They mobilised themselves,” added Natalia. “It wasn’t easy to shoot with the Germans, because we were well aware that they had qualified top, but luckily ours was a new match and everybody gets to start from zero.”

Poland put in a single nine, Germany two; Winter shot 10, while Unruh and Tschalova went wide.

“We definitely had some luck in the competition against the Germans,” said Natalia Lesniak. “After all, we finished 29-28.”

Poland moved on to a semifinal against Georgia, where they lost the first set, then won the following three to take a 6-2 victory and qualify for the gold medal match.

On Saturday, Lipiarska-Palka, Lesniak and Wioleta compete against Tomomi Sugimoto, Kaori Kawanaka and Rina Sugibayasi. The Japanese group knocked out defending outdoor World Archery Champion Russia, 5-1, in the semifinals.

“Two years ago in Nimes we won bronze, silver is guaranteed at this world championships in Ankara – and that’s one step higher already. I think we’re on the right track,” said Lesniak.