Three gold medals for the US teams

  Recurve Men   Gold Medal – USA vs China Americans Brady ELLISON, Jake KAMINSKI and Victor WUNDERLE will meet the team from China (CHEN Wenyuan, SONG Junjie, XING Yu), who defeated the favourites Korea in semifinals.   It’s the third match between these two teams this year. China won their encounter in the quarterfinals in Porec (224-220) and the Americans took revenge in Antalya, also in the quarterfinals, by winning 218-216.   Shooting on home turf, the Americans had the best start with X10-9-9-10-9-10, while the Chinese shot 9-9-9-8-9-9. The USA led 57-53. In the second end, China finally found the way to the gold, shooting 10-9-10-9-9-9, but the Americans were even more solid with shots at 9-x10-10-10-x10-8 to increase their lead to 114-109.   The third end started in very windy conditions. The Chinese had more errors than the Americans (9-8-8-9-8-9 to 9-9-9-9-8-10). The USA had a comfortable lead, 167-160. Both teams shot 29 points before the last three arrows. The last shots of the Chinese at 9-7-x10 released the pressure on the Americans. They concluded with 9-10-x10, their eleventh 10 of the match! Brady ELLISON, Jake KAMINSKI and Victor WUNDERLE won the gold medal to the delight of the spectators.   Thomas AUBERT: Given their strong performance in the previous rounds, we thought the Chinese would win but the Americans remained strong and solid before their home crowd and despite the wind.   Recurve Women   Gold Medal – Korea vs India The world champions from Korea have won five of their six previous encounters with India since 2005. However, in March the team from India was finally able to beat them in the final of the Asian Grand Prix (214-211).   A light wind was blowing as the match started. The team from India seemed to suffer a little bit more, with all their shots to the left side of the target. However they managed to tie Korea after the first end, 54-54. India had more errors in the second end but also more 10s than the Koreans: 10-9-7-8-8-10 to 9-9-9-7-9-9. The teams were tied at 106-106. In the third end a very strong wind started to blow, bothering archers from both teams. The Indian women scored 4-9-9-7-8-10. As for the Koreans, they still had difficulty hitting the 10 ring: 9-6-8-9-9-9. Korea led 156-153. The last end concluded with no 10s (Korean shot 8-9-9-9-9-9, India 8-9-8-9-9-8). Korea won the match 209-204 and the gold medal.     Thomas AUBERT: This is no surprise to see Korea win this final against India. The wind bothered both teams but the Korean archers managed to stay more efficient.     Recurve Mixed Team   Gold Medal – Korea vs Great Britain The Korean pair of KIM Moon Jung and OH Jin-Hyek looked the favourites to win this final. OH Jin-Hyek was 4th at the 2009 Worlds, where he also won gold with his team. KIM had just won the team gold medal a few minutes earlier. On the British side, the asset is Simon TERRY, the 1992 Olympic bronze medallist.   The Korean pair took the lead 35-34 after the first end (X10-8-8-9 to 9-9-7-9). The British pair was very unlucky in the second end with scores of x10-9-3-8. Naomi FOLKARD was probably bothered by the wind. The Korean pair led 71-64.   The scores of the third end reflected the difficulty the women had adapting to the wind. Naomi FOLKARD shot 7-3, TERRY 10-10. On the Korean side the scores were 5-8 for KIM, 9-8 for OH. Korea led 101-94. Great Britain increased their total in the last end (8-7-10-10) but it was not enough to overcome Korea, who shot 8-9-10-6 to win the match and the gold medal.   Thomas AUBERT: Strong wind was blowing, which caused mistakes on both sides, but the Koreans remained stronger and more accurate in these difficult weather conditions.     Compound Men   Gold Medal – USA vs Canada Americans Braden GELLENTHIEN and Reo WILDE are team world champions and will be joined on this team by Jesse BROADWATER. The team from Canada comprises Andrew FAGAN, Kevin TATARYN and the 2007 World Champion Dietmar TRILLUS. The USA and Canada have met twice last year, at the World Cup stage 1 and the Summer Universiade. The USA had won both times.   The USA started their first set with 4 hits while the Canadians were perfect to win the two set points at stake. The Americans reacted with perfect second and third sets (Canada had 4 hits in both sets). The USA led 4-2. The scores were unusually low in the fourth set: 3 for Canada, 2 for the USA, allowing Canada to come back to 4-4. Both teams shot 5 hits in the fifth set to tie at 5-5. The USA hit their first 3 arrows in the last set, while Canada hit only 2. The USA hit their last three arrows to clinch the match and the gold medal 7-5.   Thomas AUBERT: The Americans, cheered on by their numerous supporters, won this match thanks to 2 more hits (29 to 27). Reo WILDE was near perfect with only 1 miss.     Compound Women   Gold Medal – USA vs Canada The US team has a combination of experience with VAN NATTA, winner of the 2008 World Cup Final and youth, with ANSCHUTZ, the winner of the World Cup stage 2 in Antalya. The third member of the team is Diane WATSON.   On the Canadian side, the archers are Camille BOUFFARD-DEMERS, Doris JONES and Ashley WALLACE. Doris will compete in the individual gold medal final later in the day, while WALLACE was the winner in Porec and 3rd in Antalya.   The USA won the first set (3 hits to 2) but lost the second (3-4). The teams were tied at 2-2 after two sets. The Americans won the third set 3-2 and lost the following one (2-4) to tie Canada (4 set points each).   The local team hit 4 arrows (against 3 to Canada) to take the fifth set and lead 6-4. Canada shot first and had 3 hits in the last set that were soon matched by the Americans, who won the match and the gold medal 7-5!   Thomas AUBERT: Today a percentage of 50% hits – just one more than the Canadians – allowed the Americans to win this final in easy weather conditions.    Compound Mixed Team   Gold Medal – USA vs Russia The American pair (Jamie VAN NATTA/Rodger WILLET Jr.) met the Russians Viktoria BALZHANOVA and Alexander DAMBAEV. There were only 2 hits in the first set, one by WILLET and one by DAMBAEV for a tie at 1-1. The Americans hit their four arrows of the second set (Russia hit half). The US led 3-1, but Russia came back in the third set, 3-3. In the last set, the USA had only one hit, allowing Russia to win the match and the gold medal with 2 hits.   Thomas AUBERT: The Americans experienced difficulties in this match, shooting more than one hit in only one set. Meanwhile the Russians had a shaky start but were much more consistent overall.   Vanahé ANTILLE World Archery Communication