9th World University Championships ready to start

Lausanne – July 03, 2012: World University Championships, The 9th edition of the FISU World University Archery Championship will take place from 4-7 July in Cordoba, Spain. This competition will go on until 2016: from 2019 onwards archery will be a compulsory sport on the Universiade programme.

Recurve

Jean-Charles VALLADONT at the 2011 World Archery Championships

The 2012 University Championships will feature 125 archers from 26 countries. Some of the best archers from the last edition of this event will be back, while several new champions will take part in their first international competition in Cordoba.

For instance SUNG Wookyeong (KOR), who is one of best junior archers in the world, will compete in his first University Championships. He won double gold medals twice at the youth level (!): the junior men team and individual gold medals in 2009 at the World Archery Youth Championships in Ogden, USA and in 2011 in Legnica, Poland. Also among the best junior archers is Ricci CHEAH (AUS), who won the recurve junior men team gold at the 2008 World Youth Championships.

Some archers are more experienced at the international level, such as Jean-Charles VALLADONT (FRA) who was team champion at the 2011 World Cup Stage 2 in Antalya, and team silver medallist at both the 2009 and 2011 World Archery Championships.

Shohei OTA (JPN) participated at the last Universiades in 2011 with success, winning the team silver medal in recurve men.  Spain will, of course, have a strong delegation with the new Olympian Elias CUESTA and his national teammates Daniel MORILLO and Antonio FERNANDEZ.

In the women’s category, Iria GRANDAL (ESP) will take this competition as a good preparation for the London 2012 Olympic Games! Her compatriot Helena FERNANDEZ will also be competing in Cordoba. Also among the contenders are international competitors Paula WYCZECHOWSKA and Karina LIPIARSKA from Poland as well as the Koreans AN Sejin, JANG Eunbin and PARK Seayane.

Compound

Kristina BERGER at the 2012 Antalya World Cup

On the men’s side, Gerardo ALVARADO (MEX) was team runner-up at the Shenzhen Universiades. The young Italian Luca FANTI will be someone to watch and so will be, as always, the Americans Daniel SUTER, Evan SCUDNER, and Eric BEEMDRY.

One of the best athletes in the women’s category is Joanna CHESSE (FRA). She won the Indoor Archery World Cup Final 2012 in Las Vegas, USA, and placed 1st in the men’s team event (!) at the 2011 Universiades—depending on participation, at the university level the “men’s” team of three archers can comprise women.

The new star of compound archery Kristina BERGER (GER) will be present in Cordoba. This year she placed second individually at the World Cup Stage 2 in Antalya, third individually and in the mixed team event at the Stage 3 in Ogden, and she became team and individual European Champion in May in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Other athletes to watch are Kendall NICELY (USA), Laura LONGO (ITA), and the individual silver medallist from the Turin World Championships Pascale LEBECQUE (FRA).

Competition Format

Athletes will shoot individual, team and mixed team events in Cordoba.

Qualifications:

Recurve – 70m Round (72 arrows at 70 metres)

Compound – 50m Round (72 arrows at 50 metres)

Individual matches:

Recurve matches are shot in the World Archery set system (best of 5 sets of 3 arrows).

Compound matches are shot in 5 ends of 3 arrows with cumulative scoring.

Team / Mixed team matches:

Teams and mixed teams shoot the Academic Round of 4 ends (6 arrows for teams, 4 for mixed teams), with cumulative score. The Academic Round is shot with a Hit/Miss target face specifically made for this distance. Each hit is worth one point. Recurve shoot at 70 metres and Compound at 50 metres.

History

In 1996, the inaugural World University Archery Championship took place in Vaulx-en-Velin, France. Combining rigor and harmony, physical fitness and immense concentration, archery was certain to attract student enthusiasm. And because it can be pursued at one’s own rhythm without putting pressure on schedules, this exemplary Olympic sport fits easily into the rhythm of university life.

The city of Vaulx-en-Velin was a natural candidate for this championship, given the number of devotees to the sport within the sphere of Lyon’s regional University Sports Committee. Archery was four times in the list of optional sports at the Summer Universiade: in 2003 in Daegu, Korea; in 2005 in Izmir, Turkey; in 2009 in Belgrade, Serbia and in 2011 in Shenzhen, China, where the 2010 World University Championship took place as a test event.

The level of archery at the World University Championships has increased over the past years, and close cooperation with World Archery ensures a nice future for archery as a FISU sport. Indeed, from 2019 onwards archery will be a compulsory sport on the Universiade programme.

Follow the competition on www.worldarchery.org and www.fisuarchery2012.com and www.fisu.net. —- WA

World University Championships World University Championships World University Championships World University Championships World University Championships World University Championships World University Championships