Recurve Men
Gold Medal - India (IND) vs Great Britain (GBR)
The top seeded team of India, with Banerjee, Champia and Talukdar, faced the experienced team of Great Britain (No. 2), composed of the 1992 Olympic silver medallist Simon Terry, two-time Olympian Laurence Godfrey and World Games silver medallist Alan Wills.
To reach the gold final, India defeated Turkey (222-203) and the US (219-215). Great Britain first beat Poland (225-203) and then Mexico (219-217). With a 6 in the first end, the British were trailing by two after six arrows (53-55). However, they turned a 7 by their opponents to their advantage and tied the score at the half-way mark (108-108). It was difficult to say at that point which team would be the winner of this match. With three 10s in the third end, the Indians took back the lead by one point (164-163).
With only six arrows to go, two 8s by Terry and Godfrey and a 7 by Wills in the last end put an end to the British's hopes to recover and win the gold. The Indians clinched the gold (221-215). Bronze medal went to the US which beat Mexico 222-220.
Indian men in line for top two finish
The Indian men's recurve team, consisting of Rahul Banerjee, Mangal Singh Champia and Jayanta Talukdar, reached the final of the recurve team championship in the World Cup archery meet (Stage 1) on Saturday at Santo Domingo in Dominican Republic.
The top seed drew a bye in the opening round and went on to annihilate Turkey by 222-203 points in the quarterfinals and overcame a strong U.S. side by 219-215 points in the semifinals.
India will play Great Britain (Laurency Godfrey, Simon Terry and Alan Wills) in the gold medal play-off. India is assured of at least a silver medal.
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Compound Women
Bronze Medal - India (IND) vs Venezuela (VEN)
To reach the bronze medal match, the team of Venezuela seeded No. 2 after qualification beat the Dominican Republic (214-185) in quarterfinal but lost to Mexico (212-218) in semifinals.
The No. 4 seed, India, first defeated Colombia (207-200) and then conceded defeat versus the USA (220-225).
Shooting first in this match for bronze, Bosch, Guedez and Montes from Venezuela started with 25 points. With a perfect opening (10-10-10), the Indians, Chanu, Hansdah and Soy, took a 5-point lead. At the half-way mark, the gap between the two teams was of eight points (113-105) in favour of India. Excellent shooting for Chanu and her teammates with only 10s, 9s and 8s!
Finally, the ladies team of India quite easily clinched the compound women's bronze medal on the final score of 219-208.
Bronze Medal Play-off
The women's compound team, comprising Jhano Hansdah, Bheigybati Chanu and Manjudha Soy, will take on Venezuela in the bronze medal play-off. Earlier, the Indians beat Colombia 207-200 in the quarterfinals but lost to the U.S. in the semifinals at 220-225.
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Recurve Women
Bronze Medal - Dola Banerjee (IND) vs Reena Kumari (IND)
Banerjee won the World Cup Final 2007 in Dubai. She is 35th in the world and seeded No. 4 in this first World Cup stage 2009. Her opponent was her teammate Kumari, who only ranks 145th in the world but was No. 11 at the end of the qualifications.
In the semi-final round, Dola lost to the five-time Olympian Alison Williamson (GBR), while Reena was defeated by Natalia Valeeva (ITA), also five-time Olympian and winner of several indoor and outdoor world titles.
Shooting a 6 in the first end, Dola trailed by four points after three arrows (22-26) and by three at the half-way mark (48-51). However, with one 10 and two 9s in the third end, she stuck back down to the score and only trailed by one with three arrows to go (76-77). The score was tied at the end of the match and the two ladies had to go to a tie-break to decide on the winner. Reena shot a 7 in the shoot-off, offering the bronze to her compatriot who clinched victory with a 9.
Success eluded the women's recurve side and men's compound team
The threesome of Dola Banerjee, L. Bombayla Devi and Reena Kumar, having got the top billing, failed to live up to the expectations by losing to Great Britain by just a point at 207-208 in the quarterfinals. The men’s compound outfit, consisting of Khuraijam Ratan Singh, Chungda Sherpa and Chinna Raju Srither lost to Mexico in the quarterfinals at 214-218.
Earlier, Dola Banerjee and Reena Kumari made it to the bronze medal play-off in the women's individual recurve section to assure India off a medal.
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World Cup Stage 1 -
Individual
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Dola, Reena compete for lone bronze medal
Sixteen archers will earn only one bronze medal from the individual Olympic round competition of the World Cup (Stage 1) being played at Santo Domingo in Dominican Republic.
Luck of draw coupled with fragile temperament conspired to leave only two, Dola Banerjee and Reena Kumari, in the women’s recurve bronze medal contention. The rest collapsed like a pack of cards on Friday when challenged after some superb performances in the FITA round qualifications the previous two days.
Most of the Indians bowed out at the pre-quarterfinal level. Indians, who have done well as a team, can still hope for medals in the team championship. Out of four men, only second seed Mangal Singh Champia lost in the quarterfinals to Simon Terry of Great Britain at 112-114. The other three, including top seed Rahul Banerjee lost in the previous round. Banerjee fell to 48th ranked, Athens Olympic champion from Italy, Marco Galiazzo at 108-112. Galiazzo shot only six arrows in the qualifying round before pulling out due to illness. He ended last in the field and was drawn to play the top seed. Twelfth-ranked Jayanta Talukdar was ousted by fifth seed Crispin Duenas of Canada at 102-105 while 16th seed Kapil was eliminated by fourth seed Juan Rene Serrano of Mexico at 108-112.
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Brave in defeat
In the women's recurve, fourth seed Dola and 11th seed Reena Kumar moved up to semifinals where they tasted defeat at the hands of Alison Williamson of Great Britain and Natalia Valeeva of Italy respectively. The eighth-ranked Briton beat Dola 101-95 and the Italian world champion crushed Reena 111-104. Now Dola and Reena will compete for the bronze medal on Sunday.
Laishram Bombayla Devi went out in the quarterfinals to Dola after both tied 106-106. The tied again in the first tie-break shot at 9-9 and in the second Dola got a 10 to Bombayla’s 9. Ranked ninth, Rimil Buriuly, the youngest member of the team, lost to 24th-seed Nathalie Dielen of Switzerland at 100-101 in the second round.
Superior opponents
Three Indian women compound archers, Jhano Hansdah, Bheigyabati Chanu and Manjudha Soy lost to higher ranked rivals in the pre-quarterfinals. Jhano lost to sixth seed Luzmary Guedez of Venezuela 112-13; Bheigyabati went out to second ranked Ivana Buden of Croatia at 105-114 and Manjudha fell to third seed Olga Bosch of Venezuela at 101-110. The fourth Indian Vrushali Gorle was put out by her teammate Bheigyabati at 109-110 in the opening round.
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Ratan shocks Dave Cousins
Luck of draw played foul in the men’s compound bow section with teammates M. Chinglensana Luwang and Kh. Ratan Singh meeting in the first round. The later won by one point (111-110). Ratan Singh, then, came up against the top seed Dave Cousins of the US in the second round. To the utter surprise of all the Manipuri shot his 12 arrows like a man possessed to cause the biggest upset. He won 117-114. This is perhaps for the first time an Indian has beaten a world class archer like Cousins in compound section.
Ratan next opponent was 17th ranked compatriot Chungda Sherpa. Ratan lost the battle in the pre-quarterfinals at 108-110. And Sherpa himself lost in the next round to Braden Gellasthien of the US at 114-15. National champion Chinna Raju Srither, seeded 10th, lost to seventh ranked Patrizio Hofer of Switzerland at 112-113 in the pre-quarters.
Rahul-Bombayla pair loses
In the mixed team recurve semifinals, Rahul Banerjee, pairing L. Bombayla Devi instead of sister Dola Banerjee, failed to make it to the podium. The top-seeded Indian duo lost to fourth-ranked Italian pair of Ilario di Buo and Natalia Valeeva at 141 (18) – 118 (19) and in the bronze medal play-off it lost to French pair of Romain Girouille and Berengere Schuh at 140 (17) – 140 (19), both the contest going to tie-breaker.
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World Cup Stage 1 -
Compound
Srither, Chungda Sherpa conquer new frontier
Compound archery is fairly new to the Indian sub-continent. Having introduced in the country in 2001-02 or may be a year later, this form of archery was included in the National championship at Ernakulam (Kerala) in 2005 for the first time. As a discipline, compound archery began to grow rapidly thereafter and after five National championships (2005-2009), it has begun to make a mark in international arena as well.
The eight-member compound archery contingent at the Santo Domingo World Cup (Stage 1) has taken the country a few notches higher with a few telling performances. National men’s champion Chinna Raju Srither accumulated a four-distance (90m, 70, 50 and 30m) total of 1385 points, hitherto untouched by an Indian. And the other significant show was by Chungda Sherpa. He shot 360/360 in the 30m distance to touch another new frontier in Indian archery. Srither himself came tantalisingly close to the magic mark but fell short by a point.
Former National champion and current coach Ch. Lenin confirmed the two best scores by Indians in recognised competition and said this would augur well for the development of the discipline in India.
Overall it was a very satisfying day on Thursday for the Indian contingent. After the excellent showing by the recurve archers on Wednesday where India attained one-two in the FITA round men’s qualification through Rahul Banerjee and Mangal Singh Champia, and the two teams standing first in the team qualification, the compound archers brought a lot of satisfaction to their compatriots.
Srither stood 10th overall with a total of 1385. Chungda Sherpa was one among the seven archers to attain the perfect 360. He finished fifth on 10s and Xs count back. Interestingly, Sherpa was not in the original 16 named for the camp. He came in as the 17th member, made it to the Indian team to this World Cup and now conquered a new frontier! His score of 1364 placed him 17th overall. Maisnam Chinglensana Luwang was 32nd with 1347 and Khuraijam Ratan Singh was 33rd with 1346. All the four are Indian army personnel.
Ratan, Sherpa and Srither totalled 4095 to end fourth in team qualification behind the US (4172), Canada (4155) and El Salvador (4118).
The women too did a commendable job by finishing fourth in team qualification. Jhano Hansdah (1362, 11th place), Bheigyabati Chanu (1345, 18th) and Manjudha Soy (1341, 19th) powered India to 4048 behind the US (4137), Venezuela (4082) and Mexico (4064). Women shoot over four distances -- 70m, 60, 50 and 30m. Vrushali Gorle, ended 15th with 1355 points. Significantly, she also came in to the camp as the 17th member, found her bearing during the trials, earned a place in the team and now did wonderfully well to be placed second best among the four Indians.
It was sheer bad luck that the Indian mixed team of Jhano and Srither (2747) lost out a semifinal place to Mexico’s uncle and niece pair of Almendra Ochoa and Ruben Ochao (2748) in an otherwise very significant day for India.
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World Cup Stage 1 -
Recurve
Fabulous opening day for Indian archers
Indian archery, perhaps, never had such a grand opening day of a World Cup. The eight-member recurve contingent (four men and as many women) made the most of its current form to bamboozle the opposition to submission.
Rahul Banerjee and Mangal Singh Champia proved to be the best standing one and two in the mens qualification while Dola Banerjee and Laishram Bombayla Devi were placed a creditable fourth and fifth among ladies.
In the team championship qualification, Indian men and women earned the No. 1 place. The sister-brother combination of Dola and Rahul Banerjee occupied the top place in the newly introduced mixed team category to complete Indias success story.
The World Cup Stage 1 in Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) began on Wednesday, 1 April 2009. This opening day’s competition was entirely devoted to the qualifications in the recurve divisions.
On the men's side, Rahul Banerjee (Ind) proved the most consistent at the four distances 90, 70, 50 and 30 metres and took the top seed position. The 2008 World Cup winner Justyna Mospinek (Pol) was placed first in the recurve women's qualifications after shooting at 70, 60, 50 and 30 metres. Ranked second was Natalia Valeeva (Ita) who tied the European record at 30m with 357 points.
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Team - Recurve Men
After the first two distances in the team event, India was 1st with a combined total of 1949 points and a comfortable margin over Great Britain, 2nd on 1915 and Mexico, 3rd with 1890. With two archers ranking in the top at the half-way mark Jaime Quintana 17th and Juan Carlos Stevens 18th—Cuba provisionally reached a healthy 6th place.
India's advantage at the half-way mark was enough to keep 1st place. With a grand total of 4001 points, Banerjee, Champia and Jayanta Talukdar finished qualifications with a 19-point lead over their first pursuers, Laurence Godfrey, Simon Terry and Alan Wills from Great Britain. The 3rd rank was kept by Mexico with 3902 points, just one point ahead of Illario di Buo, Mauro Nespoli and Amedeo Tonelli's Italy.
Individual - Recurve Men
In the absence of 2008 World Cup winner Im Dong-Hyun (Korea) and his teammates, this category seems wide open.
After 144 arrows, India's Rahul Banerjee and Mangal Singh Champia occupied the top two places with 1348 points and 1340 points respectively. Last year's World Cup finalist Romain Girouille (Fra) let the first place slip, shooting only the 11th highest score at 30m. With a final total of 1339 points, the Frenchman ranked fourth, just behind the Mexican Juan Rene Serrano with the same number of points but more 10s.
The morning was marked by the withdrawal of 2004 Olympic champion Marco Galiazzo (Italy) because he fell ill and could not continue shooting. Having shot six arrows, he will be able to shoot eliminations as the minimum number of qualifying arrows to be shot to avoid disqualification is one. However, automatically seeded last (no. 48), Galiazzo will face the no. 17 seed in the 1/32 elimination and if he wins the first match, he should shoot against the top seeded competitor in the 1/16 round.
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Team - Recurve Women
With three competitors in the top 7, India easily led the team event at the half-way mark. With 1951 points, Dola, Bombayla and Reena Kumari had a 28-point advantage over Colombia, 2nd on 1923. With Jessica Tomasi, Elena Tonetta and Natalia Valeeva, Italy took the provisional 3rd rank with 1920 points. Despite Allison’s individual 4th place, the team of Great Britain trailed at 8th place, Charlotte Burgess being placed 25th and Amy Oliver 36th.
India kept their top place with a final total score of 3956 points. They easily led the recurve women's team qualifications with a 23-point advantage over Italy, 2nd on 3933. Colombia took 3rd place with 3890 points and Poland finished 4th with 3874.
Individual - Recurve Women
In the recurve women's category, the 2008 World Cup winner Justyna Mospinek (Pol) made her way to the top place thanks to shooting the highest score at 50m. She finished the qualifications with a grand total of 1343 points, six points better than five-time Olympian and reigning World Champion Natalia Valeeva of Italy in the second place. The French lady Berengere Schuh, who led at the half-way mark, lost two places to finally rank 3rd.
Dola Banerjee also gained a few ranks finishing 4th. Her teammate Bombayla Devi was 5th, ahead of the American Khatuna Lorig and the surprising Colombian Natalia Sanchez. Alison Williamson, who was 4th after 72 arrows, lost four places to be seeded no. 8 at the end.
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Team - Mixed Double
In the new Mixed Team competition, the best country was India with Dola Banerjee and Rahul Banerjee. With Schuh and Girouille, France took the 2nd place, while Poland with Mospinek and Dobrowolski was 3rd and Italy with Valeeva and Di Buo 4th.
The semi-finals will be shot on Friday afternoon, India facing Italy and France shooting against Poland. The winning mixed teams will then battle for the gold medal, while the losers will go on to the bronze medal match. By Friday, the four qualified nations have the choice to change its two competitors who will compete in the mixed team final matches.
Traditionally, the Indians have done well in the FITA qualification rounds as seen in different international fixtures over the past three to four years. Yet, when it comes to elimination round where every round is as important as the final, the Indians seem to falter lacking that bit of mental toughness to overcome the opposition.
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