Here to win, says World Games semifinalist Bjorklund

Defending World Games Champion Lina Bjorklund, of Sweden, beat France’s Eliette Lalouer, 71-65, to make the Wroclaw 2017 barebow women’s semifinals, with second shoot-up survivor Martina Mackova from the Czech Republic.

“I was so much into the match! I was so excited that, when I was shooting, everything felt easy, nothing was hard,” said Lina. “The bow felt like it was 20 pounds. I tried to enjoy and focus on my technique. I love this game and it was a fun way of shooting.”

Lina defeated Frenchwoman Lalouer, who seeded 11th – then won three matches before meeting the defending Champion.

Bjorklund will shoot her semifinal against second seed Tina Gutman, who she lost to in a one-arrow shoot-off after the two archers tied on 308 points over the 24-target ranking round. 

“Revenge from yesterday,” said Lina! 

“When we were shooting [the tiebreaker], my tab slipped up underneath the arrow and I missed the target. When they told me: ‘you missed’, my answer was: ‘are you kidding me?’ It will be fun meeting her tomorrow.”

The two-time world champion in the discipline said her 12 unmarked targets were sub-par but that she was back on form for the eliminations shoot-up.

“This is where I want to be and of course I will go for gold tomorrow,” she added.

Czech Martina Mackova took the last available place in the barebow women’s final four in Wroclaw by beating reigning World Archery Field Champion Chantal Porte, from France.

Martina, who scored 78 points over the six marked match targets – to Porte’s 68 with two misses – started four points down, 13-9.

“I wasn’t following the results, just focusing on my shooting, so I didn’t even notice that I started losing,” said Martina. “This is good, but the semis are not my goal. I came here to get a medal!”

Mackova will shoot her semi against Italian archer and first seed Cinzia Noziglia.

The barebow field archery competitions at the 2017 World Games run 26-28 July in Wroclaw, Poland.