Two Silvers in Ankara for Poland’s Lesniak

Natalia’s first trip to the finals arena in Ankara was with her teammates Karina Lipiarska-Palka and Wioleta Myszor, to shoot against Japan for the recurve women’s team world title.

Shooting on target one, the Polish women came up short in three frustrating sets, each of which they lost by just a point.

Credit goes to Kaori Kawanaka, last in the rotation for Japan, for shooting crucial 10s with each of the arrows that closed the sets, and closed set wins. The Olympic silver medallist only put one arrow out of the 10-ring and that came during the first three-arrow series of the second set.

Poland had poor luck in the second set, when Myszor’s 7-8 linecutter was called the lower value by the judge.

She admitted after the match that her “emotion had taken over”.

Myszor and the number eight seeded Polish women posted their best set total of the match in the third, shooting three 10s and three nines for 57, but Japan finished with four straight arrows in the middle, and 58, to secure the world title.

“It started very well. The first set we only just lost. Shooting was going very well,” said Lesniak.

“Our nerves were playing a large role again. At the latter point, we lost some luck – and the linecutters were not as successful for us as we could have hoped.”

Natalia said she walked into her individual final with Germany’s Lisa Unruh with more confidence than in the team event, but it still took her a couple of arrows to get settled in the arena.

While Lisa opened with a perfect 30, Lesniak shot an eight and a nine in the opening series, losing the first set 30-27. In the second, she rallied, shooting clean and taking back any advantage her German opponent had extended.

The next sets were split: First 28 for both archers, then 30, then 29.

Shoot-off.

Both archers’ arrows hit the 10-ring, but Lisa’s squeezed slightly closer to the centre.

“There can always be more,” said Natalia, disappointed. “I had 10 but Lisa was slightly closer to the centre. For me, that’s just not enough. After all, it was so close.”

Double runner-up still marks Natalia Lesniak’s best international achievement to date. With bigger goals for 2016 ahead and the outdoor season on the horizon, it’s a good sign.

“We’re happy about this achievement, but it’s time to prepare for Antalya, where we want to qualify the Polish team to Rio,” said team official Walaszek Jaroslaw. “That’s our main goal for this year.”