Lausanne, Dec 05, 2013: A record number of athletes from around the globe are heading to Singapore for the third year in a row for the Indoor Archery World Cup’s Asian leg to be held on 8-9 December 2013.
This event is the city-state’s only annual open international individual archery tournament. The tournament previously started the indoor season, but the introduction of Marrakesh in mid-November makes it the second stage of the 2013/14 tour. About 220 archers from more than 20 countries will compete in Singapore this time. The venue for this event will be the ITE College East.
The Indoor World Cup season began on 16-17 November on the African continent. Not only was it the first competition on this year’s programme, but it marked the first time a World Cup event was held in the African continent. The Moroccan city had been successfully organising its own International Indoor Archery Tournament since 2010. This year European athletes Naomi FOLKARD (GBR) and Rick VAN DER VEN won the recurve categories, while USA archers Braden GELLENTHIEN and Crystal GAUVIN took the compound top spots. Leaders of the Indoor World Cup rankings, the four of them will skip the Singapore stage, however.
But even without these headliners, the Singapore event will be high-level with recurve men’s reigning champion and former world No. 1 Brady ELLISON (USA), recurve women’s world No. 8 Deepika KUMARI (IND), compound men’s world No. 2 Reo WILDE (USA), and compound women’s No. 1 Erika JONES (USA) who are all confirmed for the Asian stage.
After missing the first stage of the season, the Korean team will make the trip to Singapore with five female athletes in recurve, including the defending gold and silver medallists from the Vegas Final, JEON Sung Eun and KIM Min Jong (photo top right). Also entering this indoor season, the Indian team will be the largest in number with 44 members (28 recurve and 16 compound). Among them Bombayla DEVI, bronze medallists of the Asian Championships at the end of October, and Deepika KUMARI on the women’s side. For the men, names that stand out are Rahul BANERJEE, Tarundeep RAI and Jayanta TALUKDAR.
With 30 competitors the host country will have at heart to please their fans and why not spring a surprise? Chinese Taipei (31 archers) and P.R. China (20) will also be out in force. The Frenchmen, although only four, will have their say without a doubt, with Thomas AUBERT and Jean-Charles VALLADONT (photo bottom left) in recurve, and Fabien DELOBELLE and Sebastien PEINEAU in compound. The latter was silver medallist in the team event at the 2012 Indoor World Championships where he also finished fifth individually. In the absence of the Korean men, alongside AUBERT and VALLADONT the main candidates for World Cup points are USA’s Jake KAMINISKI and Brady ELLISON.
In compound men, other headliners will be 2013 outdoor world champion, 19-year old Mike SCHLOESSER (NED), and former world champion, experienced Morgan LUNDIN (SWE). On the women’s side, Albina LOGINOVA (RUS) and Linda OCHOA (MEX) will be the strongest contenders to US favourites Christie COLIN and Erika JONES.
About the Indoor Archery World Cup
The Indoor World Cup has expanded for the 2013/14 season. Previously, three stages were being held in Asia, Europe and the Americas, but this year World Archery has added a fourth in Africa. There will be a second new host, as Nimes will not hold the European leg of the tour in its fourth season. The French town is busy preparing for the Indoor World Championships from 25 February to 2 March 2014 so replacing the popular tournament on the international calendar this year is Telford, Great Britain.
For the four competition categories – recurve and compound men and women – the format stays mostly the same across the four legs. Archers shoot 60 arrows at 18 metres for qualification before head-to-head eliminations and finals using the set system. The top 16 finishers (top 8 in Marrakesh and Singapore) at each stage receive Indoor World Cup ranking points.
The 16 archers who have accumulated the most points in each category after the fourth stage qualify for the Indoor World Cup Final. Athletes are ranked by their top three results from the four legs, and must have competed in at least two stages including Las Vegas to be eligible. This season’s finalists will compete for Indoor World Cup Champion titles in the evening of Saturday 8 February 2014 in Las Vegas.
Brady ELLISON (USA) and JEON Sung Eun (KOR) won the recurve categories at last year’s Indoor World Cup Final. In the compound competition, Braden GELLENTHIEN (USA) and Andrea GALES (GBR) enter this season as defending champions. —- WA
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