World number one Marcus D’Almeida wins Hyundai Archery World Cup
World number one Marcus D’Almeida now has a first Hyundai Archery World Cup title to match, after beating top-seeded Korean Lee Woo Seok in the gold medal match at the circuit Final in Hermosillo.
Nine years on from his first World Cup medal, when he took silver at the Archery World Cup Final in Lausanne, the Brazilian claimed gold with a brilliant 6-4 victory over the Korean.
D’almeida was up against Lee again after a semifinal loss just a month ago at the fourth stage in Paris, while this contest was also a rematch of the final at the Youth Olympic Games nine years ago, in Nanjing in 2014.
But the Brazilian insisted that revenge was the furthest thing from his mind and he just wanted to get his rewards for a superb season that saw him win recurve men’s bronze at the Berlin 2023 Hyundai Archery World Championships.
“I’m not thinking about revenge, each moment is a special moment and I need to make the most of it,” said D’Almeida. “I thank everyone who has supported me.”
Olympic silver medallist Mauro Nespoli completed the podium, beating India’s Dhiraj Bommadevara in a tiebreak.
Kim Woojin‘s shock 6-2 quarterfinal defeat to Bommadevara opened up the draw but Lee soon ended the Indian athlete’s run in the competition with a clinical 7-1 semifinal win.
The best match of the day came on the other side of the brackets as Italy’s Nespoli twice came back from the brink to push D’Almeida to a shoot-off.
The Brazilian went 2-0 and 5-3 up with some brilliant shooting but couldn’t get the job done as the Italian hit back with 29 in the fifth end to force a tiebreaker.
Both athletes shot nine in the shoot-off but D’Almeida’s effort was closer to the centre.
In the bronze medal match, the tiebreaker went Nespoli’s way as he shot a brilliant arrow to beat Bommadevara.
“It was a super night, I did two shoot-offs and the last one with the 10 was the best one,” said the Italian. “The spectators are amazing and they helped me a lot. I hope that I gave them back what they’ve done for me.”
The recurve men’s session brought the 17th edition of the Hyundai Archery World Cup Final to a close in Hermosillo on Sunday evening.
Final ranking: Recurve men
Marcus D’Almeida, Brazil
Lee Woo Seok, Korea
Mauro Nespoli, Italy
Dhiraj Bommadevara, India
Brady Ellison, USA- Kim Woojin, Korea
Dan Olaru, Moldova
Matias Grande, Mexico
