DAI Xiaoxiang is man of the day with two gold medals

Medellin – Sunday, July 21, 2013
China’s DAI Xiaoxiang won the men’s individual title and the mixed team gold medal paired with CUI Yuanyuan. On the women’s side, Russia’s Inna STEPANOVA claimed the second World Cup victory of her career.
Chinese DAI Xiaoxiang (main photo) was seemingly unstoppable today. In the recurve men’s final he faced Jeff HENCKELS (LUX), who had defeated him in their only previous encounter in Antalya three years ago. Today DAI left no chance to HENCKELS. He won the first set 28-25, and the second 29-27, to lead 4-0. His opponent recovered two points in the third set, but DAI outscored him 28-26 to win the fourth set and the match 6-2. It is the first major individual title for DAI, who was Olympic bronze medallist in London and World Cup Final runner-up in 2011. The silver medal is the first World Cup medal for 28-year-old HENCKELS.

The bronze medal match was a tough fight between Jean-Charles VALLADONT (FRA) and ZHANG Jianping (CHN). The French archer, who is the field world champion, won the first set 29-26 and led 2-0, but ZHANG came back with 29 points in the second and third sets to take the lead, 4-2. A tie at 23-23 moved the score to 5-3 before the final set. VALLADONT scored 10-10-9 against 9-10-9 to come back to 5-5. Shoot-off! ZHANG shot a 9, followed by a 9 from VALLADONT, but further from the centre. Victory for the 24-year-old ZHANG, who adds a second bronze medal to the hardware he won in Antalya in June.

The women’s final featured Russian Inna STEPANOVA and Miranda LEEK (USA).