BELEK-ANTALYA, Turkey - This afternoon at the 2013 World Archery Championships opened with mixed team eliminations through the semifinals. Superstar duo, Brady Ellison (Chula Vista, Calif.) and Khatuna Lorig (West Hollywood, Calif.), seeded 6th, entered their first match against Spain and completely dominated with higher scores in each set. Team USA closed Spain out with a 15-point lead and a score equal with Korea's for the same match.
They continued to shake the competition, destroying No. 3 seed, the Russian Federation in the quarterfinals. The duo battled Mexico in the semifinals, taking an early lead after the first set and never letting go. USA will face Korea for gold and Mexico will shoot against Chinese Taipei for bronze.
Compound untouchable, Erika Jones (Grand Island, Neb.) and Jesse Broadwater (Jennerstown, Penn.) had stellar qualification round performances to rank first for mixed teams. Broadwater was labeled the competition dark horse after his first place finish yesterday, and with the top seed the duo was expecting big wins together.
Although the two will shoot for bronze, their matches today in difficult wind produced unexpected results across the field. No. 11 seed, India upset Korea in a surprising quarterfinal result and South Africa knocked Great Britain out of the game in the 1/8th.
USA tied Germany in the 1/8th final from a rough second set, but won in shoot-off to advance to the quarterfinals against Croatia. The wind picked up and made incredibly frustrating shooting conditions, but the US team opened with a strong first set and increased their lead through each set to win the match.
Jones and Broadwater embarked on their semifinal match against Italy with a strong opening end and only a single point deficit. However, a weak second set sealed their fate and Italy pounced on the win. Italy will face the Russian Federation for gold and USA will compete for bronze against India.
This morning finished the men's recurve qualifications. Ellison, who rocked the world last week with a strong performance under tremendous pressure in last week's World Cup Final, is expected to be a hard hitter here as well.
Scores were tight and World Ranked No. 3 Ellison's 1335 placed him in a three-way tie for 7th place. A shoot-off between Gael Prevost (FRA), Taylor Worth (AUS), and Ellison caused a stir as Ellison dropped to 9th. Although unfortunate not to be in the top 8, Ellison, known for perfect 10s under tremendous pressure in head to head matches, is seeded in good stead for the upcoming eliminations.
Korea's male recurve squad has been consistently on top of almost every event this season, and today was no different. The powerhouse trio of Oh Jin Hyek, Lee Seungyun, and Im Dong Hyun battled for the top three finishes.
Other top contenders to watch out for are the teams from India, France, Mexico and the Netherlands.
The US men ranked 10th for team qualification, and with two 2012 Olympians in the trio, will be tough competition. Jake Kaminski (Gainseville, Fla.) and Joe Fanchin (Oceanside, Calif.) finished 29th and 71st respectively.
With 146 competitors on the field, and the toughest competition in the world, keeping up with 37 archers who each scored over 1300 is an impressive feat for any archer. Such tight scores promise exciting elimination matches to come as the week continues.
Competition resumes
Wednesday morning with early elimination matches for all four classifications. Follow the
action with live scores beginning at 2 a.m. Eastern U.S.
time: http://www.worldarchery.org/en-us/worldchampionships/outdoorbelekantalya2013/livescores.aspx.
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