HRACHOV
and KHAIRUL ANUAR have never met before. The Ukrainian has been in top form
lately reaching his best world ranking, 5th, mid-September just before flying
to the World Cup Final in Istanbul where he won the bronze medal. He also won a
team bronze medal at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. KHAIRUL ANUAR really burst
into the front scene at the Shanghai World Cup, where he took the 2nd place in
individuals and teams. He will be among the favourites for the upcoming Asian
championships in Tehran next week.
In
the bronze final the Malay released his first three arrows in the yellow ring
to win the first set 29-26 and take the lead 2-0. After a 7 to open the second
set, KHAIRUL ANUAR followed with two other 10s. With 27 against 26 for his
Ukrainian opponent, he added two set points and increased his lead at 4-0.
HRACHOV then made the effort to come back, but could only tie the third set,
27-27, and stayed alive at 5-1. The Ukrainian then came back at 5-3, but as the
final set was a draw 25-25, he conceded defeat by 6-4.
Brady ELLISON (USA) took the gold medal
beating IM Dong-Hyun (KOR) 6-2 at the men’s individual event in the London
Archery Classic at Lord’s Cricket Ground on Monday, 10 October. The No. 2 seed,
Khairul Anuar MOHAMAD (MAS), took bronze after defeating Dmytro HRACHOV (UKR)
6-4.
ELLISON,
the world No. 1, has been in commanding form all week and proved it again in
the 1/8 eliminations as he fired eight 10s from his nine arrows on the way to
beating Jean-Charles VALLADONT (FRA) 6-0.
The American also
saw off the challenge of Haziq KAMARUDDIN (MAS) in the quarterfinals, which set
up a semifinal meeting with KAMARUDDIN’s teammate MOHAMAD (MAS).
Once again
ELLISON, fresh from his World Cup win in Turkey, proved too strong for his
opponent, beating MOHAMAD 6-2.
That set up a
gold medal match against IM, the No. 1 seed, who started the week by setting
two world records—in the ranking round and the men’s team event.
IM beat CHENG Chu
Sian (MAS), teammate OH Jin Hyek and HRACHOV but could not find a way past the
outstanding ELLISON.
It was a
disappointing day for the other Koreans too. OH was beaten in the quarterfinals
by IM, and KIM Woojin went out at the same stage to HRACHOV, who was the only
European representative in the last eight.
Korea finished
top of the medal standing with two gold medals, one silver and two bronze. The
USA also won two gold medals while China, Poland and Chinese Taipei took one
silver and Japan and Malaysia one bronze medal.
That put an end
to the London Archery Classic at Lord's Cricket Ground. After a successful
Olympic Test Event everyone is now looking ahead to the 2012 Olympic Games!