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Poland and Denmark to do compound team battle at Berlin worlds

2 August 2023

Berlin, Germany

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Compound men’s team of Poland will shoot for gold in Berlin.

Poland and Denmark will do battle for compound men’s team gold after ensuring there will be a new world champion with their elimination performances at the Hyundai World Archery Championships in Berlin, Germany.

Both Przemyslaw Konecki and Lukasz Przybylski qualified inside the top eight in Tuesday’s individual competition and took that form into the team event alongside Rafal Dobrowolski.

“Today was really successful,” Konecki said. “The team was brilliant, the chemistry and power – I felt and I think everybody on this team felt unstoppable.”

“We just went and shot and there was nothing else. It was amazing and the result showed that.”

The fifth seeds began by beating El Salvador and started with a perfect end of 60 on their way to beating Chinese Taipei in the last eight.

They repeated that feat against top seeds Korea – a team consisting of Choi Yonghee, Kim Jongho and Yang Jaewon – in the semifinal, ultimately prevailing 233-229 to guarantee their country’s first ever compound men’s team World Championship medal.

Tore Bjarnarson will shoot for team gold on world championships debut.

Denmark’s Tore Bjarnarson and Mathias Fullerton, meanwhile, continued their fine form as they built on their recent World Youth Championship team gold in Limerick, Ireland, last month.

Joined by Martin Damsbo, the Danish trio beat Australia and Slovenia to set up a semifinal with Netherlands, which required a shoot-off after the teams finished level on 227-227.

“It is pretty surreal,” Bjarnarson said. “This is my first World Championships for seniors, so it is very pleasing that I can also do great in qualification and get an opportunity for a gold medal.”

“I have been shooting for 10 years following everything on YouTube and now to be able to be on the team and represent my country, it is a childhood dream.”

Denmark prevailed in strong winds to give Damsbo the chance to win his second compound men’s team gold, a decade after his first.

With Netherlands and Korea to do battle for bronze, the medallists here will be three completely new nations when compared to two years ago.

Mexico and India will face for compound women’s team world championship title.

There will also be a new compound women’s team champion, with 2021 gold medallists Colombia – containing two of the trio who earned that triumph, Sara Lopez and Alejandra Usquiano – beaten 220-216 by India in a semifinal which was a rematch of the final last time out in Yankton.

“It seems so unreal, because that was a tough match in these conditions,” said Jyothi Surekha Vennam, who was joined by Aditi Gopichand Swami and Parneet Kaur.

“The last two rounds were very, very bad because the wind was so strong and we just wanted to shoot all the arrows because we were short on time and we managed to.

“Luckily we could make it to the final, which we are looking forward to. This time, we will take gold to our country.”

Standing in India’s way as they look to go one better are Mexico.

Andrea Becerra, Ana Sofía Hernández and Dafne Quintero went in as top seeds and justified that status with victories over Thailand, which included a perfect second end, Germany (featuring a flawless opening end) and Korea, in a nerve-shredding semifinal ending.

“We are incredibly happy, it was a very difficult match,” said Becerra. “The last end almost gave me a heart attack! We are very happy that the results were in our favour.”

“I knew they were a very strong opponent. Korea is an incredible rival and I think this specifically made us work harder and give an extra push.”

Competition continues with individual eliminations on Thursday in Berlin.