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On Friday, after athletes had completed official practice, Thai television live broadcast the Championship's opening ceremony to the nation. The archers' parade was an impressive sight, with the many colours of the flags, team uniforms and young children's costumes making a bright rainbow of colours.
One of Thailand's top archers, who also happens to be a music star, sang the national anthem after welcome speeches from General OSOTH, President of the Thailand Association of the Disabled under the Patronage of His Majesty The King; Paul CHARNVIT, Chairman of the Local Organising Committee; Prof Dr U?ur ERDENER, President of World Archery (main photo) and IOC Member - and Mr Sombat KURUPHAN, Vice Minister of Tourism and Sports, who declared the Championships open.
Two archers received an arrow each from the Vice Minister, which they shot at balloons fixed to a target. As the balloons burst, hundreds more coloured balloons launched into the air and were carried back across the archers in the stadium by the breeze. The ceremony concluded with a demonstration of traditional Thai boxing.
Saturday held qualification for most divisions at the World Para Championships 2013. In the morning, the compound women's open athletes shot 72 arrows at 50 metres, and the recurve women and men's standing competitors shot 72 arrows at 70 metres.
Reigning World and Paralympic champion Danielle BROWN from Great Britain led the way in the compound women’s open division, chased strongly by her compatriot Mel CLARK (photo) and Turkey's Burcu DAG. In the compound women’s team event, Russia finished with a 29-point lead over Japan, with USA a further 19 points behind them.
In the recurve women’s standing division, London Paralympic bronze medallist Milena OLSZEWSKA (POL) was top scorer with 614 points, 22 points ahead of China’s LIANG Qiurong. Two of the recurve men's standing medallists from the 2011 World Para Championships made this year's top five in qualification, with Turin bronze medallist Timur TUCHINOV leading scorer on 649. A third rank for his countryman Oleg SHESTAKOV matched the Russian pair's gold and bronze winnings in London last year. Frenchman Alexandre LASVENES led Europe's charge against Russian domination of this division, with 643 points for second place in the ranking.
Unsurprisingly, Russia took top seed in the recurve men’s team event, with France second and China third. The top three recurve women’s teams were China, Korea and Russia. In the mixed team recurve division, Russia was first, some 20 points ahead of Iran - and China a further 10 points back in third place.
Men's open W1, compound men's open athletes shot 72 arrows at 50 metres for their qualification in the afternoon. W1 competitors were in the shade for most of the time, helping at least some of the athletes escape the heat!
Jeff FABRY (USA) made the most of his opportunity, shooting a new world record 657 points to top the compound men's W1 leader board. Second and third rankings were decided on 10-count, with both Jean-Pierre ANTONIOS (FIN) and John CAVANAGH (GBR) on 641 points. Unfortunately, two archers lost points because they did not complete their score cards correctly: they signed cards as being correct despite there being no totals on either.
An entirely new group of archers led the compound men's open competition. No medallist from the last World Championship nor the London Paralympic Games made it into the top of the rankings. Instead, Italian archer Alberto SIMONELLI's 685 headed the list. Five archers, who all shot 681, were then ranked on 10-count.
The three leading nations in the compound men’s team event were Korea, Italy and Turkey. Great Britain took top seed in the compound mixed team, ahead of Turkey and Italy.
Follow results, live scores and photos from the World Para Championships 2013 in Bangkok on our webpage.
World Archery Communication
