Final Results

Brady Ellison retains men's title, Silver for Deepika

The 32 best archers of the world gathered in Istanbul, Turkey for the Archery World Cup Final 2011. The Kucuksu Palace, on the Asian banks of the Bosphorus Strait, was the site of this year's Final. The defending champion Brady Ellison (USA) won a second crown in the recurve men's category. He beat Dai Xiaoxiang (Chn) in the gold final. Cheng Ming, another Chinese, won the women's title against 17-year old Indian Deepika Kumari.

The men's bronze medal went to Dmytro Hrachov (Ukr) who defeated the young Gael Prevost (Fra). On the women's side, Berengere SCHUH (Fra) won the third place against Jung Dasomi (Kor).

The World Cup Final competition started on September 24, 2011, with the compound events. The recurve matches then followed on Sunday, 25 September with the quarterfinals and mixed team match in the morning, followed by the semifinals and the medal matches. The athletes had no second chance as they started directly in knockout matches.

The recurve matches were played in the best-of-five sets format. Each set consisted of three arrows and was worth two points; each archer got one point in case of a tied set. The first archer with six set points won the match. In case of a tied match at 5-5 in set points, a one-arrow shoot-off was played. The winner was the archer whose arrow is closest to centre.

The Rumeli Castle is just across the river, which is spanned by the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge, a structure connecting Europe with Asia and providing yet another dramatic backdrop for the archers.

Recurve Women - Semifinals

Deepika Kumari (Ind/3) v Berengere Schuh (Fra/7)

At 17 years old, Deepika is an amazing talent. She is the 2009 cadet world champion and 2011 junior world champion. At the senior level, she won the individual and team events at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. She also won a team silver medal at the Turin World Championships in July. The experienced Schuh won the team bronze medal at the Beijing Olympic Games and became the individual European champion in 2008. She recently placed fourth at the Turin World Championships. She beat Deepika in semifinal in Shanghai at the beginning of the month before finishing second of the stage.

The wind still blowing strongly on the field in Istanbul to start the afternoon session! However, despite difficult conditions, Deepika took a good start with 9-9-10. Her 28 points allowed her to win the first set (2-0), since her opponent shot two 8s and a 9 to begin.

The Indian scored the only 10 of the match in the second set. And together with two 8s (26 points), it was enough for her to add two set points to her total (4-0). Schuh in fact shot a 6 to finish this set (23). The Frenchwoman seemed too much disturbed by the wind and scored two 7s in the third set. With another 23-point series, she let the set go again and lost 0-6.

Recurve Women - Gold Medal Match

Cheng Ming (Chn/5) v Deepika Kumari (Ind/3)

Very good start for the two archers in this match for the World Cup title: 10-10 for each. The decision in this set was made by Cheng who scored a 9 at her third arrow, while her opponent only got an 8. The score was 2-0 for the Chinese.

Dramatic ending in the second set. Cheng had it in hand. She started with 10-9 and needed an 8 to win the set and lead 4-0. But she released a very bad shot that scored 6. only. Deepika was happy to take the two points at stake and tie the match at 2-2.

In the third set, the Indian took advantage of a 7 by Cheng to take the lead for the first time of the match, 4-2. The third set was reversed with Deepika shooting a 7 at her first arrow. Cheng won set and came back at 4-4.

The Chinese then opened the final set with a 6 but followed it up with two 10s to just clinch a tie (26-26). The match was thus tied as well at 5-5. In the Shoot-off, Cheng shot first and scored a good 9 close to the 10-ring. The 17-year old Deepika then needed a 10 to win, but she could not hold the pressure and finished with an 8. And Cheng is the new World Cup Final winner!