Top seeds Sullivan, Gurjar into under-18 finals at worlds
Compound archers Sawyer Sullivan of the USA and Priya Gurjar of India have made the finals of the under-18 world championships in Wroclaw, Poland, having both seeded first over qualification.
Having already led his team to a world record at this event, Sullivan battled through to the semifinal match with a dead-centre shoot-off arrow in the semis.
“It's really awesome! I can feel it in every bone of my body,” said Sullivan.
“I was nervous but I had a bunch of people behind me, supporting me. It all just clicked together.”
Shamai Yamrom, Sawyer’s opponent in the final four, kept pace with the favourite.
The Israeli archer started just as fast, shooting two perfect ends of 30 points, before falling behind by two in the third. He tightened, dropping just one more point to finish tied with Sullivan on 147 after the regulation 15 arrows.
Yamrom also shot a 10 in the tiebreak – but Sullivan’s was better.
“I opened the door in the last two ends. I really felt that I needed to focus in the shoot-off and make a good shot. And I almost shot a spider! It was a good one,” said Sawyer.
Sawyer will contest gold with Slovenian archer Aljaz Brenk, who beat Isaac Sullivan, also of the USA, 148-144.
The compound women’s under-18 competition saw Priya Gurjar comfortably defeat Great Britain’s Hallie Boulton, 149-140, to secure her place in the gold medal match.
“I’m feeling very excited going to the final. I shot really well and I’m happy with my performance. I’m satisfied,” said Gurjar, who also seeded top.
“I had 149 so it’s almost perfect. I can win a gold medal here and I will give my best in the final.”
The 17-year-old will face 15th qualifier Selene Rodriguez of Mexico, who upset Gurjar’s teammate and third seed Parneet Kaur, in the semis, 142-141, to secure her first final appearance.
While the compound bracket went to form, the recurve was wide open.
Archers from six different nationalities will contest the under-18 medals at these championships.
France has a contender in each final: Iban Bariteaud in the men’s event and Caroline Lopez in the women’s. The former will face Denmark’s Ludvig Henriksen and the latter Ceren Kocur of Turkey.
“I shot so good today and it paid off. This year has been a good year in archery for me and I hope to win the final,” said young French archer Lopez.
India, Kazakhstan and the Netherlands are represented in the bronze medal matches.
The finals in Wroclaw will take place this weekend.
Under-18 finals
- Recurve men: Ludvig Henriksen, Denmark (5) versus Iban Bariteaud, France (2)
- Recurve women: Caroline Lopez, France (1) versus Ceren Kocur, Turkey (2)
- Compound men: Sawyer Sullivan, USA (1) versus Aljaz Brenk, Slovenia (6)
- Compound women: Priya Gurjar, India (1) versus Selene Rodriguez, Mexico (15)
