Final Olympic Individual Qualifications Ogden

World Archery News, June 25, 2012: Ogden, On Friday, the last individual Olympic qualifications took place for the countries that didn’t have a place (per gender). There was 7 spots for the men available and 8 for the women. They were contested by 80 men (from 35 countries) and 50 women (from 25 countries).

This special tournament was conducted with the usual World Archery rules. The top 8 in the bracket were pre-seeded in the 1/16 eliminations. The matches were played out of five sets of three arrows (2 points per sets to be earned). If the match was tied at 5 set points for each archer, there was a one arrow shoot-off closest to centre.

Here are the athletes that won a place FOR THEIR COUNTRIES. The national archery federations/associations and National Olympic Committees still need to confirm their selection for the London 2012 Olympic Games!

Recurve Men

Yavor Vasilev HRISTOV (BUL)

Denis GANKIN (KAZ)

Rafal DOBROWOLSKI (POL)

Mark JAVIER (PHI)

Klemen STRAJHAR (SLO)

Axel MULLER (SUI)

Elias MALAVE (VEN)

Recurve Women

Reena PARNAT (EST)

Evangelia PSARRA (GRE)

Zhara DEHGHANABNAVI (IRI)

Anastassiya BANNOVA (KAZ)

Celine SCHOBINGER (SUI)

Rachel Anne CABRAL (PHI)

Begul LOKLUOGLU (TUR)

Leidys BRITO (VEN)

Here is how they got it!

Recurve Men 1/48

Martin POLAKOVIC of Slovakia led Christian MEDINA of Chile 4-0 after two sets. In the third set MEDINA shot a 10-9-8 to POLAKOVIC’s 10-7-8 to bring the score to 4-2. MEDINA continued his comeback in the fourth shooting a 27 to POLAKOVIC’s 24 to tie the match at 4-4. MEDINA’s first shot of the fifth set scored 4 points costing him the match. POLAKOVIC won 6-4 and will advance to the 1/24 round.

After five sets the match between Konstantinos LOIZOU of Cyprus and Hristo HRISTOV of Bulgaria was tied at 5-5 forcing a one arrow shoot-off. In the shoot-off the No. 74 seed HRISTOV upset the No. 39 seed shooting a 9 to LOIZOU’s 8.

Recurve Men 1/24

Gusting tail winds created difficult shooting conditions for the archers competing in the 1/24 elimination round. Alexandru Ionut POPESCU (ROU) led Mohammed Mahmood JASSIM 5-3 after 4 sets. In the 5th end POPESCU shot 8-10 and JASSIM shot 9-9 tying the set with one arrow left. POPESCU’s final arrow was an 8. JASSIM needed to shoot a 9 or better to win the set and continue the match. His final arrow was a 6 giving POPESCU a 7-3 victory.

There were three shoot-offs during the 1/24round. HRISTO HRISTOV (BUL) found himself in a shoot-off once again. This time it was against Dmitri DANCOV (AZE) the No. 26 seed. HRISTOV shot a 10 but DANCOV shot an X10 giving him the win. Michael DECKERS (BEL) shot-off against Axel MULLER. MULLER won the shoot-off shooting a 10 to DECKERS’ 8. Oscar Guillen TICAS (ESA) shot-off against Keith HANLON (IRL). TICAS shot a 10 beating HANLON’s 9.

Recurve Men 1/16

In the opening set No. 14 seed Sermet CINAR (TUR) Roman and No. 19 seed VENGEROV (AZE) tied with 28 points making the set score 1-1. VENGEROV won the next two sets making the score 5-1. CINAR battled back winning the next two sets bringing the set score to 5-5 and forcing a shoot-off. In the shoot off CINAR shot a 7, which is usually not enough to secure a victory, but given the day’s windy conditions it was enough. VENGEROV’s arrow scored five points giving CINAR the victory and bringing him one step closer to London.

Recurve Men 1/8

Oscar Guillen TICAS (ESA) trailed Yavor Vasilev HRISTOV (BUL) 5-3 after four sets. In the fifth set HRISTOV shot a 9-8-6 and TICAS shot 10-9-6 forcing a shoot-off. The gusting tail winds continued to persist and both archers let down multiple times because of the wind. As the clock ran down both archers shot their arrow TICAS shot an 8 and HRISTOV shot an 9 giving him the win and berth to the quarterfinals.

After three sets Silie TAN and Piotr PIATEK were tied at 3-3. In the fourth set PIATEK shot 9-10-9 but TAN shot a perfect 10-10-10 to bring the score to 5-3. In the fifth TAN shot a 24 and PIATEK shot a 22 giving TAN a 7-3 victory.

Recurve Men 1/4

There were eight athletes from eight different countries for seven Olympic spots! The rules were clear. The four winners obviously won a spot. The four losers were ranked based on their set points (and if needed arrows points)—and the best three would won the remaining places.

The most important match of the quarterfinals turned out to be between Rafal DOBROWOLSKI of Poland and Silie TAN of Singapore. DOBROWOLSKI led the match from the start winning the first set 30-16. DOBROWOLSKI won the match in straight sets 6-0. With all the other men’s matches going past 3 sets all the other competitors scored at least one set points and secured a spot in the Olympics. TAN (SIN) is the only competitor to reach the quarterfinals that will not go to London.

Mark JAVIER (PHI) led Eias MALAVE at 5-3 after 4 sets. In the fifth set MALAVE shot a 28 to JAVIER’s 26 to force a shoot-off. In the shoot-off JAVIER shot a 6 and MALAVE shot an 8 to win the match.

Recurve Men 1/2

The semifinals and finals match were shot to rank officially the archer. In the match between Rafal DOBROWOLSKI and Axel MULLER the score was tied at 3-3 after 3 sets. DOBROWOLSKI won the fourth set 28-29 bring the score to 5-3. DOBROWOLSKI clinched the matching shooting a 30 winning 7-3.

After two sets Elias MALAVE led Klemen STRAJHAR 4-0. STRAJHAR came back and won the next two sets to tie the score at 4-4. In the fifth set MALAVE shot a 28 to STRAJHAR’s 27 to win the match 6-4.

Recurve Men Finals

In the 5th set Klemen STRAJHAR (SLO) led Alex MULLER (SUI) 5-3. In the final set both archers shot a 27 giving STRAJHAR a 6-4 win.

After two sets that match between DOBROWOLSKI (POL) and MALAVE (VEN) was tied at 2-2. MALAVE took the 3rd set shooting a 27 to DOBROWOLSKI’s 25 making the score 4-2. In the 4th set MALAVE shot a 9-10-8 and DOBROWOLSKI shot an 8-10-6 to give MALAVE the 6-2 win.

Recurve Women 1/24

Four matches went to the fifth set and beyond. Edwina REYES DELOS (PHI) had a come-back victory over Alexandra MIRCA (ROU) 6-4 (21-24, 24-25, 26-23, 26-23, 24-21). The Leoni LISBETH (VEN) – Valentine DE GUILI (SUI) match was a rollercoaster. LEONI got a 2-0 lead. Then DE GUILI scored two solid sets with 10-8-8 and 10-9-9 to take the advantage 4-2. The fourth set was close. LEONI scored 10-9-8. DE GIULI had 8-10 and an… 8 that was just outside the line. LEONI came back at 4-4. During a windy fifth set, LEONI was more solid scoring 5-10-9 while DE GIULI had 7-6-6. Victory for LEONI!

There two shoot-offs. Laura KOURULA (FIN) defeated the former Olympian Elena MOUSIKOU (CYP) 9-7 and Luyiza SAIDIYEVA (KAZ) beat Maria Victoria CARDOZA (PUR) 9-7 as well.

Recurve Women 1/16

The top 8 from qualifications came into play in this round such as the No. 3 Celine SCHOBINGER (SUI). Tough luck for Switzerland, she was playing teammate Nathalie DIELEN. After a 2-2 draw, SCHOBINGER was solid scoring 10-10-8 and 9-10-7 in the next sets to win the match 6-2.

Yerubi SUAREZ (VEN) trailed her opponent Farida TUKEBAEVA (KAZ) 2-4. She came back winning the fourth set with a 7-7 a good 10. In the fifth set, she started with 9-8, while TUKEBAEVA had 10-6. SUAREZ has a 1-point advantage but finished with a 6. TUKEBAEVA only took the chance to bring the match to a shoot-off scoring a 7. In the tie-break, SUAREZ scored another 6. Under windy conditions, TUKEBAEVA let her chance go another time, scoring a 5.

Evangelia PSARRA (GRE), who had a good run in the World Cup eliminations two days ago (winning three shoot-offs), had to survive another one! First she came back from a 1-5 deficit. Then, in the shoot-off, she scored a 9—as did her opponent Simona BANCILA (ROU). PSARRA was closest to the centre to win the match 6-5 (26-27, 25-28, 26-26, 26-23, 27-25; T9*-T9). In the last shoot-off of the round, Zhara DEHGHANABNAVI (IRI) beat Nadya RUIZ (PUR). The match was very tight but at the end DEHGHANABNAVI was closest to centre winning 6-5 (27-27, 26-25, 27-27, 27-27, 25-27; T8*-T8)

Recurve Women 1/8

In the women category, this round was decisive! The countries that won their matches won one spot! PSARRA who is already a three-time Olympian won a spot for Greece by defeating Anneli PREIMANN (EST) in a very tight match (despite the final score): 7-3 (26-26, 23-23, 25-23, 26-26, 28-27). However, Reena PARNAT (EST) won a place for Estonia by defeating Brina BOZIC (SLO) 6-2 (27-20, 27-25, 22-24, 26-25).

Switzerland won a spot! SCHOBINGER defeated Aita-Evi ATLA (GRE) 7-3 (21-15, 24-24, 22-28, 23-20, 28-20). Kazakhstan won a spot! Anastassiya BANNOVA (KAZ) beat Asel SHARBEKOVA (KGZ) 6-0. Finally, two athletes from Turkey and two from Venezuela won their matches. However, this means they won only one place each. That makes a total of six places won by Greece, Estonia, Switzerland, Kazakhstan, Turkey and Venezuela.

The last two places will be played during a “play-off” today with only the athletes from the countries that retired in 1/8 eliminations AND did not win an Olympic spot. That means this play-off involves Asel SHARBEKOVA (KGZ), Edwina DELOS REYES and Rachel Anne CABRAL (PHI), Zhara DEHGHANABNAVI (IRI), Brina BOZIC (SLO) and Laura KOURULA (FIN).

Recurve Women “Play-off” first round

Based on their seed (qualification scores) CABRAL and BOZIC had a bye. In the two matches, DELOS REYES defeated SHARBEKOVA 6-2 (21-23, 26-21, 24-17, 23-22). DEHGHANABNAVI won over KOURULA 6-0 (25-22, 29-21, 26-23). Since according to the seeds from qualifications, the two athletes from Philippines DELOS REYES and CABRAL will play each other in the next round, Philippines will get one Olympic spot!

Recurve Women “Play-off” second round

The last Olympic spot DEHGHANABNAVI from Iran and BOZIC from Slovenia was tied at 2-2 in set points. Then DEHGHANABNAVI scored X10-6-8 and 9-10-9 to win the third and fourth set and clinch the very last Olympic places in the recurve women category! She won the match 6-2. In the other match CABRAL beat her teammate DELOS REYES. Since Philippine and Iran got the two Olympic places remaining, no more matches were shot in this play-off.

Recurve Women 1/4

These quarterfinals and subsequent rounds are here to exactly rank the athletes for this Final Olympic Individual Qualifications Tournament. This may be important for the NOCs in their selection of the athletes for the Games. In the Turkish dual Begul LOKLUOGLU beat Damia ERGIN in a shoot-off! The final score was 6-5 (28-30, 26-24, 25-25, 28-24, 25-27; T10-T9). BRITO also defeated SCHOBINGER in a tie-break, 6-5 (25-26, 28-27, 27-24, 25-25, 23-29; T9-T10). PSARRA and SUAREZ also won.

Recurve Women 1/2

PSARRA defeated LOKLUOGLU 6-4 (25-23, 26-27, 24-28, 28-26, 28-26)

BRITO beat SUAREZ 6-0 (26-25, 27-20, 29-21)

Recurve Women Finals

BRITO won this Final Olympic Qualification Tournament by defeating PSARRA 6-0 (29-25, 29-28, 25-24)

LOKLUOGLU won 3rd place over SUAREZ 7-1.

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