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World Games compound final fours decided after long lightning delay

09 juillet 2022

Birmingham, Alabama, USA

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Abhishek Verma and Mike Schloesser at the 2022 World Games

The rapid compound tournament at this year’s World Games was extended a little while after a delay for nearby lightning added more than two hours to the eliminations session on Friday afternoon in Birmingham, Alabama, USA.

A little late, but before nightfall, the final fours had been decided, with Abhishek Verma, Jean Philippe Boulch, Miguel Becerra and Christopher Perkins making it through to the compound men’s semifinals, and defending champion Sara Lopez, Toja Ellison, Paige Pearce and Ella Gibson booking slots in the arena in the compound women’s competition.

Indian world number five Verma got there following an epic quarterfinal clash against top seed and world number one, Mike Schloesser, who had shot a perfect 150 in his first match. Both men shot just one nine in their five ends, ending tied at 149-149, and sending the match to a tiebreak. Verma shot second in the sudden-death eliminator and his 10 was closer to the middle.

“Mike is an extraordinary archer, you can see that. Nobody knew who would win. I just focused myself and shot,” said the ninth seed. “I am not new. I have a good record and number of medals [and] that experience helped me to defeat him.”

Verma’s place in the last four now means he has two chances to make history for his country and win India’s first-ever archery medal at the World Games.

Mister Perfect’s wait for a first individual World Games medal continues (although he is through to the mixed team final against Colombia) but he gave all he had in the tiring, humid conditions in Alabama.

“I shot crazy good,” said the Dutch world number one. “I felt good, was secure in myself and my shooting was good. Sometimes [that] is not good enough.”

“Abhishek shot awesome,” he added. "We both deserved to go through.”

Verma will take on fourth seed Jean Phillipe Boulch in their semifinal after the French shooter defeated Jozef Bosansky (147-145) in the quarterfinals.

In the second semifinal, Mexico’s Miguel Becerra will compete against former World Archery Champion Christopher Perkins of Canada. Despite not competing much in 50-metre target archery events over the past decade-plus since he won the worlds in Turin in 2011, he delivered a promising performance in the qualifying round, seeding just behind Schloesser on X-count after both finished with 713 points.

“I shot alright considering the conditions, the breaks, the stuff, thunderstorms coming through and postponing everything a little bit. Tomorrow is another day and I am feeling good,” said Perkins, whose main focus is the professional 3D circuit in the US. “I did not have many expectations coming here. It has been kind of a long time since I was in the 50-metre game.”

“When I step on the field, I know I can do it. It is just a little bit different from what I am used to.”

Another archer who has been focusing on 3D of late is the USA’s Paige Pearce.

She coped well with the new, shorter time limit for qualifying to seed fifth with 704 points – not far off her international career-best of 707 – and then beat Sarah Prieels and US teammate Linda Ochoa-Anderson to set up a semifinal against one of the hottest archers in the world right now, Great Britain’s Ella Gibson.

Gibson has won two Hyundai Archery World Cup stages (Antalya, Paris) in two appearances so far this season.

“I am very happy. It was tough and nervy but I am glad,” said Gibson, who eliminated top seed Tanja Gellethien with a perfect match of 150 points.

“My ranking round was definitely not good. I tried a lot of different things with equipment. I ended up setting the bow for the last four ends. I got a weapon in my bow and finished the qualifier a lot better. In the matches I started finding the rhythm and in some way, having more time because of the weather was probably helpful for me to clean my head and reset.”

Whoever wins Paige and Ella’s semifinal will face a tough opponent in the title match.

Defending World Games Champion (and world number one and World Archery Champion) Sara Lopez faces Slovenia’s Toja Ellison in a rematch of the compound women’s final at the last World Games – held in Wroclaw in 2017 – in the second semi on Saturday in Birmigham.

Lopez seeded second earlier in the day and is in form despite a repeat of some challenging weather conditions she faced at the Bolivarian Games.

“I did really well this morning. I was proud of myself,” she said after qualification. “I really wanted to finish the competition. Last week I had heatstroke and it was really bad. I knew it could happen [here] again. I just focused on finishing the competition and felt good in terms of my technique.”

Lopez, alongside doubles world champion Daniel Munoz, will also shoot in the mixed team final as well as the individual final four. The Colombian pair beat the top-seeded Indian duo of Verma and Jyothi Surekha Vennam to set up a final against the Netherlands’ Schloesser and Jody Beckers (who defeated Mexico 157-156 in their semifinal).

Sara, repeating the message she gave ahead of competition starting, said the pairs event remained her focus.

“I want to put all of my energy into the mixed teams final and have fun in the semifinal,” said the 27-year-old. “I know I am going to have a really tough match against Toja. It was the final at the last Games, so I know she wants to win.”

Ellison survived an intense clash with India’s Vennam (149-148) to book the opportunity to avenge the defeat against Lopez from five years ago.

“I struggled in the first match [today]. I shot good and they were not there, but it was enough. I am happy. I knew she was shooting good and I expected a tough match,” said a delighted Ellison while waving to her young son Ty who appeared next to the field with Toja’s husband, Brady.

Competition at the World Games continues on Saturday with the compound final fours in the morning and compound mixed team medal matches in the afternoon.