Ruban and Van Natta -- The best of Qualifications!

The afternoon session of the Qualification Round started this afternoon with a cloudy sky. The rain finally did not show up, although it was really threatening. The wind calmed down to let the archers continue smoothly to the 72nd arrow. The ones that reached the summit were Viktor Ruban and Jamie Van Natta.

Recurve Men

Ruban Viktor remained on top with 676 pts. Takaharu Furukawa (JPN) overpassed Lee Chang-Hwan (KOR), taking 2nd place with 672 pts, while Lee dropped his score to 669 to place 3rd. The winner of the Good Luck Beijing, Kim Ha-Neul (AUS) upgraded to the 4th place with 665 pts, closely followed by Park Kyung-Mo (KOR), Jayanta Talukdar (IND), Ilario di Buo (ITA) and 2007 World Cup Winner and 2008 European Champion, Baljinima Tsyrempilov (RUS). The greatest come-back was from the Korean Im Dong-Hyun, who surprisely ranked 55th in the first half, where it seems he had a problem with his riser, as he changed it in the second half and ranked 1st on the second 36 arrows, ending in the 20th place of the qualifications.

After Im's come-back in the individual ranking, the Team took the lead with 1987 pts. The Australians are 2nd with 1975 pts and Ukraine follows with 1966 pts. The promising US Team is only ranked 9th on 1942 pts.

Compound Women

After 36 arrows, Jamie Van Natta's (USA) urge for victory worked in the second half of the Round, taking the lead with 690 pts. Anna Kazantseva (RUS) sits on the 2nd place with 687, as she dropped her score in the second half. Amandine Bouillot (FRA) kept her 3rd place with 685 and Nichola Simpson (GBR) again beat the Master World Record she set in Santo Domingo with 684 pts! She takes the 4th place. These ladies are followed by Sofia Goncharova (RUS), Luzmary Guedez (VEN) and Akram Shabani (IRI). 2007 World Champion Eugenia Salvi is 11th with 674 pts.

The five-team ranking of the Team event is led by Russia with 2036 pts, closely followed by France with 2027 pts, then Iran (2020), Venezuela (1995 and Greece (1938).

(Credit: FITA. Click here for further information.)