In the header: The Dutch recurve men’s team turn the boards to a 4-4 draw in the semifinals, after trailing 4-0 to India, before posting a perfect 30 points in the tiebreaker.
1. Hup Sjef
Sjef van den Berg walks off the line after securing a perfect score for the Netherlands in a shoot-off win over India in the recurve men’s semifinals.
2. Flags
Many of the squads supporting their teams on the field raided the official flags of the event and staked their claim to their area of the field. No points for ground claimed, though, only for points on the board…
3. All smiles…
…for the Chinese Taipei’s recurve women’s team, who overcame tough opponents in Mexico and Korea before straight-setting World Archery Champion Russia to book a ticket into the gold medal match.
4. It’s expected
When Iran won the worlds in Copenhagen in 2015 it was seen as a bit of a surprise. The three-man line-up, though, said they’ve increased their level in practice and expected to do well in Shanghai, where they won silver in 2015.
“We want to keep this level,” said Esmaeil Ebadi.
5. Back the Brits
Olympian Larry Godfrey, Patrick Huston and Kieran Slater orchestrated a huge upset over the number-one seeded USA team in the quarterfinals of the recurve men’s competition, after beating Australia and before falling just short to Korea. The Brits are into the Shanghai bronze final.
6. China out
With the Chinese recurve women’s quarterfinal loss to India, the last of China’s hopes of having host athletes on the finals field of play this time in Shanghai evaporated.
7. Resilience
Following a 6-0 win over the USA, India came through in a shoot-off, by a point, over China. A blow for the hosts, for sure, but a boost for the Indian athletes, who then took out Germany, 5-3, to make the final.
8. Viking raid
Though the formidable Danish compound men were dropped out in the quarterfinals, the nation’s women were barely tested. The second seeds won their three matches by a combined 15 points. Cruising…
9. Japan’s shoot-off
Japan tied Germany in the two teams’ quarterfinal shoot-off, at 28 each. Except, they didn’t, because top-seeded Germany had an arrow closer to the middle. A disappointing end to the Asian leg of the Hyundai Archery World Cup tour for the Japanese women.
10. Valuable Experience
Not quite the performance we’re used to expecting from the Korean recurve women. But these juniors, who came to Shanghai for experience at international events, still won a first-round match 6-0 before falling short to Chinese Taipei.
