THE 8th World University Archery Championships opened at Shenzhen Stadium in Futian District on Thursday.
The four-day championships are a test for the 2011 Universiade (World University Games), which will be held in Shenzhen.
Attending the opening ceremony were a total of 190 athletes and officials from 26 countries, including George E. Killian, president of the International University Sports Federation (FISU), Wu Yihuan, vice mayor and chairwoman of the championships organizing committee, and Liang Daoxing, vice chairman of the Executive Committee and director-general of the Executive Office.
The competition kicks off with an individual ranking round at the 3,500-seat stadium Friday.
The individual eliminations and finals will be held Saturday. The team eliminations and finals and the mixed team event will be held Sunday.
The junior women competed in their elimination matches all the way to the gold medal final today (Aug 20, 2010) at the Youth Olympic Games. The title went to KWAK Ye Ji (KOR) ahead of TAN Ya-Ping (TPE) and Tatiana SEGINA (RUS).
1/8 elimination round:
Lidiia SICHENIKOVA (UKR) vs SONG Jia (CHN)
Lidiia SICHENIKOVA (UKR) was 3rd in Cadet at the 2008 Youth World Archery Championships.However her opponent SONG had a better start with 8-9-10 and 9-10-10 to lead 4-0, while the rain stopped. The Ukrainian responded in the third set with a 9-10-10 of her own to reduce the score a 2-4. Then SICHENIKOVA scored a 7-9, while SONG did 8-8. Both archers finished the fourth set with 10s and the Chinese athlete kept the lead 5-3. SICHENIKOVA tried to put pressure with a 9-9 10 in the last set, but SONG responded with 10-10-9 to win the match 7-3!
Begunhan Elif UNSAL (TUR) vs TAN Ya-Ting (TPE)
The Turkish archer won the individual bronze at the 2010 Senior European Championships and at the first mixed team/mixed countries event at these Singapore Youth Olympic Games yesterday! She did not have the best start however with 9-8-8, while her opponent scored 9-9-10 to take a 2-0 lead. UNSAL came back on the second with 8-9-10, while TAN did 9-7-9, 2-2. On the third set, the Chinese Taipei athlete scored 10-10-10 to lead 4-2! UNSAL started the fourth set with a 7 and pretty much abandoned her chances for another victorious day. TAN scored 9-10-10 in the fourth set to win the match 6-2.
That concluded the morning session. The quarterfinals, semifinals and medal matches were shot in the afternoon.
Quarterfinals
SONG Jia (CHN) vs TAN Ya-Ting (TPE)
TAN Ya-Ting (TPE) is No. 69 in the world and she placed 9th at the recent Ogden World Cup in August 2000 and 4th in the Taipei City Grand Prix this year. She was more consistent in the first set with 9-9-9, while SONG had 8-7-10. TAN led 2-0. The continued with 9-10-10 to lead 4-0. SONG tried to come back, shooting a 9. She followed it up with a 6 and an 8.
TAN remained focuse and shot 8-8-10 to take the match 6-0!
The top four seeded archers from the qualifications reached the semifinals!
Semifinals
Tatiana SEGINA (RUS) vs TAN Ya-Ting (TPE)
The archer from Chinese Taipei shot the first arrow of this match, a 6 that released the pressure on SEGINA. The young Russian won the set 28-26. TAN came back superbly with a series of 10-10-10 to win the second set. The archers were tied at 2-2. TAN won the third set 8-9-10 to 8-8-10 to lead 4-2. She shot a total of 29 in the last set to surpass SEGINA’s 26 and advance to the gold medal final.
Gold Medal Final
KWAK Ye Ji (KOR) vs TAN Ya-Ting (TPE)
The leader from qualifications KWAK met the No 2 TAN in this final. The Korean couldn’t have hoped for a better start (10-10-10). TAN replied with a perfect second set (KWAK had 10-10-8) to come back at 2-2. It seemed like both archers really wanted the gold medal.
The third set was KWAK’s, who three more 10s to take the lead 4-2. With a total of 29 she overcame her opponent in the last set to win the gold medal!
The 117 points shot by KWAK with her 12-arrows would have been a junior world record under the previous competition format.
Vanahé ANTILLE/Didier MIEVILLE World Archery Communication Read more…
The Naqu Horse Racing Fair is a grand local festival in the grasslands of northern Tibet Autonomous Region. It is usually held in August when the pasture is lush and the horses are strong. Every year, the week long event attracts hundreds of herdsmen as well as tourists to enjoy the festive mood.
Of course, the event includes horse racing, but there are also archerycompetitions, picking up hada (a type of long silk scarf), and displays of traditional horsemanship.
Herdsmen begin training their horses one month ahead of the competition. To some of them, the horses are even more important than their lives. On the Northern Tibet Plateau, horse racing is a tradition that enjoys a long history. The fair also included dancing performances and opportunities for business and trade.
THE 8th World University Archery Championships opened at Shenzhen Stadium in Futian District on Thursday.
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