Turkey’s Gazoz takes expected top seed as world youth championships start in Madrid

World number five Mete Gazoz of Turkey and Korean newcomer Jang Minhee led the recurve junior men’s and women’s ranking rounds at the 2019 World Archery Youth Championships in Madrid, Spain.

Gazoz shot 674 points, Minhee totalled 662.

“I was expecting to be the top seed. I wasn’t thinking about my score, I didn’t think about how many points I could shoot but I was expecting to be top seed,” said Mete.

“During the first half, I shot really well. In the second, I had some problems. It’s not my best score or performance but it was not too bad for this kind of weather conditions.”

The wind was very calm during the morning practice session on Monday in Madrid. By Tuesday, with the temperature a little lower, things had gotten choppy.

Gazoz thrives in such conditions. He was five points clear of Korean newcomer Kim Hyeonjong at halfway on 343 and, although unable to maintain the same pace, held on to the lead as he accrued 674 points for the 72-arrow 70-metre round.

Chinese Taipei’s Deng Yu-Cheng was second, seven points behind, and Alex Wise of Great Britain third on 659 points.

“I like to shoot in the wind,” said Mete. “I really like this kind of weather, so I have a positive advantage in this weather and because of this, I’m happy.”

Kim Hyeonjong, Kim Pil-Joong, Lee Jinyong, Tang Chih-Chun and Daisuke Tomatsu rounded out the top eight.

With a record 111 archers competing in the recurve junior men’s category, there was a cut to advance to the eliminations for the first time. Jan Jakub Hanuliak of Slovakia was the last to enter the bracket, in 104th place, on 556 points.

Jang Minhee led recurve junior women’s qualification from start to finish but the places behind her were less settled.

“The wind was blowing strong during qualification; I’m still trying to understand the wind direction,” she said. “It’s an honour to be here representing Korea. I want to have a good performance at this competition.”

Elisa Tartler of Germany ranked second on 648 points and a second Korean archer, Lee Gahyun, third with 642.

The remainder of the top eight was Ana Paula Vazquez, Denisa Barankova, Lisa Barbelin, Cha Songhui and home favourite Elia Canales. All receive byes into the third round.

Korea seeded top in the recurve junior men’s, recurve junior women’s and recurve junior mixed team events.

The 2019 World Archery Youth Championships takes place on 19-25 August in Madrid, Spain.