Fantastic Fullerton seals compound top seed after coin toss

A coin toss decided the top seed in the compound men's qualifying on an extremely close-run afternoon as stage four of the Hyundai Archery World Cup 2023 got underway in Paris.

After a golden 2023 Hyundai World Archery Championships for India, their archers nearly secured an opening day World Cup double, Ojas Deotale lost a coin toss to Denmark’s Mathias Fullerton for first seed after Jyothi Vennam had already topped the women’s draw.

A gold medal winner in the compound team event two years ago in Paris, Fullerton was delighted to give himself the best possible chance of success in the individual event this time round.

“When you shoot some good arrows, then a little bit of the nerves kick in,” he said. “But I feel like I kept my cool and shot the arrows fine.”

Just a point separated the top seven archers on the men’s side and there were two points between the top six on the women’s side in a thrilling start to the week.

It was not just at the top of the standings where the tension was felt, with a shoot-off for the men’s cut-off place culminating with Vladimir Nolasco of El Salvador knocking out Shamil Sagutdinov, the only Kazakhstani compound man out of the individual tournament.

It was Fullerton who ruled the men’s half, with 65 10s and 35 Xs, a score levelled by Deotale, before the Dane called correctly in the coin toss to split the pair.

Fresh from shooting a perfect 150 to win gold in the World Archery Championships, Deotale continued his fine form with another impressive display in the French capital.

“I just focus on my shooting, not what everyone else is shooting,” he said. “That makes me calmer, just focusing on myself.”

Vennam was another Indian archer to thrive in Berlin earlier this month, winning team gold alongside Aditi Swami and Parneet Kaur.

She set the early pace in Paris too and is relishing the prospect of another podium finish this weekend.

Commenting on the recent success of the Indian team, she said: “I think everything has come together now.”

“We have a lot of good competitions in India and we are trying to give the best in each and every tournament, and grab as many medals as we can.”

Colombian superstar Sara Lopez looks set to once again challenge after securing second seed, while Danish former World Youth Champion Tanja Gellenthien took third.

World number seven Gellenthien is yet to win a World Cup medal in 2023 but is hoping her fortunes can change after a superb start in the final stage event.

“You always want to have a good qualification so you have an idea of how the bow works under pressure,” she said. “If you do good, then hopefully matches will go well too.”

Action continues on Wednesday with compound team eliminations and recurve qualification.

Top seeds: Compound men

1. Mathias Fullerton, Denmark – 713 65 10s 35Xs (8 circuit ranking points)
2. Ojas Pravin Deotale, India – 713 65 10s 35Xs (8 points)
3. Kris Schaff, USA – 713 65 10s 34Xs (8 points)
4. James Lutz, USA – 712 65 10s 30Xs (5 points)
5. Choi Yonghee, Korea – 712 64 10s 36Xs (5 points)
6. Kim Jongho, Korea – 712 64 10s 36Xs (5 points)
7. Jozef Bosansky, Solvakia – 712 64 10s 26Xs (5 points)
8. Shamai Yamrom, Israel – 711 63 10s 32Xs (1 point)
9. Stefan Heincz, Austria – 711 63 10s 26Xs (1 point)

Top seeds: Compound women

1. Jyothi Surekha Vennam, India – 710 63 10s 27Xs (8 circuit ranking points)
2. Sara Lopez, Colombia – 710 62 10s 24Xs (8 points)
3. Tanja Gellenthien, Denmark – 708 61 10s 26Xs (6 points)
4. Ella Gibson, Great Britain – 708 60 10s 26Xs (6 points)
5. Aditi Gopichand Swami, Korea – 708 60 10s 26Xs (6 points)
6. Oh Yoohyun, Korea – 708 60 10s 23Xs (6 points)
7. Fatin Nurfatehah Mat Salleh, Malaysia – 704 (2 points)
8. Andrea Becerra, Mexico – 703 56 10s 27Xs (1 point)
9. Adel Zhexenbinova, Kazakhstan – 703 56 10s 21Xs (1 point)