BANGKOK, Thailand - Paige Pearce Gore (Red Bluff, California) took her first major indoor win today at the second stage of the Indoor World Cup in Bangkok. With tough competition, U.S. archers continued to be a dominant force and compound men also brought home silver and bronze finishes.
After taking silver at stage one in Morocco, Paige Pearce Gore (Red Bluff, California) qualified second yesterday and went on to a 145-142 victory in the 1/8thover Thailand's Maneesombatkul, followed by a 146-143 quarterfinal decision over Balzhanova of Russia and continued to build her score with a 147-142 semifinal win over Denmark's Tanja Jensen to shoot for gold.
Shooting against Denmark's Sarah Sonnichsen, both archers opened with matching 29s, and then repeated to hold steady at 58 points each after six arrows. In the third end, Gore took the advantage by a point, but with just three arrows to go, the ladies were tied again at 114. With a perfect 30 to close the match, Gore took the win 144-143.
Gore commented on social media: "I finally own my first indoor tournament! I still can't believe it, but I was able to lock up a first place finish here at the second indoor World Cup of the season! This is a huge weight off my back, and I am so excited about the progress I have been making on my indoor game. I'm definitely looking forward to the rest of the indoor season. I also want to throw out a huge congrats to Sarah Sonnichsen on her second place finish and to Tanja Jensen for finishing in third place! Thank you to everyone who has helped and supported me along the way, you have no idea how much it means to me!"
Youth World Champion Alexis Ruiz (Glendale, Arizona) was the only other U.S. female compound archer to make the cut to the quarterfinals. The fourth-place seed faced Dahlia Crook (Piedmont, Kansas) in the 1/8th round and took a strong 149-146 win before falling 147-144 to Russia's Savenkova.
On the compound men's field, standout and high qualifier, World Champion Kris Schaff (Billings, Montana) earned a shot at gold after a slew of strong wins. His 149 in the 1/8th carried him through to a 148-147 win in the quarterfinals over France's Delobelle and a 10 in a shoot off win after matching 147s with Denmark's Stephan Hansen in the semifinals.
Schaff opened with a 29 to the Netherlands' Mike Schloesser's 30 but held steady for the next six arrows with clean 10s for a 90-89 tally by the fourth end. Both men scored 29s over the next three arrows and Schaff needed to close the gap, but Schloesser never opened the opportunity, closing out with another 30 to take the gold 149-147. At Schaff's first indoor world cup appearance, he comes home with silver and great potential for future events.
Hansen went from the semifinals to face USA's Tate Morgan (Billings, Montana) for the bronze. Morgan had upset Bridger Deaton (Pella, Iowa) in the 1/8th 147-146 on his way to his second international medal match. After finishing fourth at the fourth stage of the Indoor World Cup in the previous season, Morgan earned another shot at his first international podium finish.
Going head to head with World No. 1, Morgan and Hansen kept eyes on the prize. Both were clean after three ends, when Morgan loosed one arrow in the nine. In the final three arrows, Hansen matched with a nine of his own for a 149-149 draw. Both scored 10s in the shoot off, but Morgan's was closer and he clinched the win and bronze finish.
Ninth seed David Houser (Creekside, Pennsylvania) was the only other U.S. archer to make the quarterfinals after a 146-145 upset of Reo Wilde (Pocatello, Idaho) in the first match of the day. Stage one gold medalist Braden Gellenthien (Hudson, Massachusetts) was also upset that round with a 149-148 exit to Finland's Juutilainen.
Both U.S. female eighth place seeds were upset in the first round of the day. Compound archer Cassidy Cox (Albuquerque, New Mexico) had a close 146-145 exit to Sonnichsen while recurve shooter Mackenzie Brown (Flint, Texas) came to a 5-5 tie with Korea's Kim. While both scored 10s on the shoot off, Kim's was declared closest to the center and she advanced.
The only U.S. recurve man on the field, Jack Williams (Irvine, California) came in ranked eighth in qualification and took a 6-2 win over Korea's Han in the 1/8th, dropping just one arrow out of the ten ring for a near perfect score over the four set match. His strong scores continued, but weren't enough to beat Italy's Fissore in the quarterfinals and he fell 6-4 in a tight match.
Complete results from the event are available at www.worldarchery.org. For more, follow USA Archery on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Photo courtesy of World Archery.
< Back to All News
