All the team titles were awarded today at the Asian Archery Championships
in Tehran. The Islamic Republic of Iran won the team title in Compound Men,
while Korea took it in Compound Women. Malaysia and Japan won in the recurve
division. Kazakhstan surprisingly won three medals, including the Recurve Mixed
Team Gold!
Recurve Men Team
The No. 1 seed, India
was eliminated in the second round by the No. 9 Indonesia after a shoot-off.
Both teams scored 215 points in the match and 26 points in the shoot-off, but
the Indonesians had the arrow closest to the centre. They could not overcome
however the No. 4 seed China, 211-218 in the semifinal. In the gold medal
match, the Chinese met the No. 2 Malaysians, who had previously defeated Qatar,
Mongolia and Kazakhstan. Malaysia won gold 187-184 with difficult weather
conditions. Kazakhstan won the bronze medal over Indonesia, 200-188.
Recurve Women Team
On the women’s side,
the No. 1 seed Japan prevailed. They beat Chinese Taipei 213-200, India 206-198
and Mongolia in the final, 172-163. India beat China for bronze, 190-175.
Recurve Mixed Team
The No- 7 seed
Kazakhstan successively beat the No. 2 seed India, 127-121, the No. 3 seed
China, 116-101, and the No. 1 seed Japan, 115-111! China defeated Malaysia for
bronze, 136-127.
Compound Men Team
Iran was the No. 1
seed in this category and they did not let go their chance for a gold medal.
They successively beat Qatar 222-213, then Kazakhstan 228-225. They finally
beat Korea in the final 209-197. Kazakhstan was nevertheless the surprising
team of this competition as they beat Malaysia 207-202 for the bronze medal.
Compound Women Team
As the No. 2 team in
the world (and silver medallist at the last world championships), Iran was also
the favourite in this competition. However it did not go their way today. They
lost against Malaysia in the semifinal 220-225 and against India, 203-208, in
the bronze final. Korea prevailed in this category, beating Malaysia for gold
170-163.
Compound Mixed Team
The two favourites met
in the final and Korea just defeated Iran, 134-133. Thailand earned a bronze
medal, defeating India 137-135.
Individuals
The individual
competitions will take place as of tomorrow (two categories per day). The
archers shot a 70m Round (recurve) or a 50m Round (compound) in the
qualifications.
In Recurve Men,
Jayanta TALUKDAR (IND) won the qualifications to take the No. 1 seed for the
match chart with 656 points. The upraising archers MOHAMAD Khairul Anuar (MAS)
was 2nd with 640 points, one more than Hiroki SUETAKE (JPN).
In Recurve Women, Ren
HAYAKAWA (JPN), who has been in top shape recently, took the 1st place with 634
points. She dominated the field, as ZHAO Linli (CHN) was 22 points behind at
the 2nd position (612). Bishindee URANTUNGALAG was 3rd with 609 points.
Iran showed they were
the favourites in the compound division! In Compound Men, the experienced
athlete Reza ZAMANINEJAD was 1st with 699 points. He had a good lead over
teammate Majid GHEYDI (685). Kok Men HOO (MAS) and MIN Lihong (KOR) scored 684
points.
In Compound Women,
Shabnam SARLAK (IRI) also took the 1st place (669 points). She was ahead of
three Koreans. LEE Hyun Jeong had 660, KWON Oh Hyang, 659, and SEO Jung Hee,
657.
As Tehran organises the Asian Archery Championships from 19-24 October
2011, the continent will determine the three quotas for men and the three for
women that are still to be attributed to Asia. The main Asian countries such as
Korea, India, China, Japan and Chinese Taipei already obtained team or
individual places and therefore cannot obtain additional places at this event. The
Continental Qualification Tournament will take place on 24 October at the
conclusion of the Asian Championships.
The competition for
the remaining places will be between Bangladesh (Men=M/Women=W), Bhutan (M/W),
Hong Kong China (M/W), Islamic Republic of Iran (M/W), Iraq (M/W), Kazakhstan
(M/W), Malaysia (W), Mongolia (W), Philippines (M),Sri Lanka (M/W),
Thailand (M/W), Uzbekistan (M/W).
In the women’s
competition the favourites are likely to be Bishindee URANTUNGALAG from
Mongolia who is ranked 24th in the world, Farida TUKEBAEVA from Kazakhstan who
is ranked 65th in the world and was 5th at the Asian Grand Prix in Bangkok
earlier this year. The surprise could come from the host country that has had
their ups and downs in the last years.
For the men’s
competition the archers to watch are Md. Emdadul Haque MILON from Bangladesh
who is currently ranked 87th in the world. He finished 7th in the Youth Olympic
Games. Milad Vaziri TEYMOORLOOEI from the Islamic Republic of Iran, who is
ranked 37th in the world, is the host's best chance for an Olympic quota place.
Thai hopes are on Khomkrit DUANGSUWAN who is currently ranked 78th in the world
but was 2nd at the last Asian Grand Prix.
