Mauro Nespoli loses 7-1 to Mete Gazoz and is eliminated in the quarterfinals of the World Cup Finals in Tlaxcala, Mexico.
The blue is overtaken by the Turkish archer who had also won the challenge in the Tokyo Olympic final, thus losing the opportunity to post the World Cup, one of the few trophies missing from his large palmares, given that the best result obtained in this event in the 6 finals played remains the silver obtained in 2019.
THE NESPOLI-GAZOZ CHALLENGE
The quarter-final starts with Gazoz who immediately takes the first set with two tens in a row in the last two arrows that are worth 29-28. Nespoli tries to respond in the second volley with another two nines and a ten which mean a draw 28-28 as in the third shot Gazoz comes out of the yellow hitting 8. The Olympic champion, however, gets up immediately and wins the third set 29-27, thus putting the blue in a tight spot that under 5-1 at this point of the race can only win the remaining two volleys to postpone the verdict to the shoot off. The difficult mission, however, fails, Gazoz in fact also wins the last set 29-27 and closes the challenge 7-1 thus eliminating Mauro Nespoli.
THE WORDS OF THE BLUE
At the end of the race, Nespoli analyzes the defeat with clarity: “It was a final with athletes of the highest level. It was necessary to be perfect and unfortunately this was not the case. I had stiffness from the first to the last arrow, with very long aiming times, difficulty in passing under clicker with consequent tremors on the line and errors on the target.
After Tokyo I raised my expectations a lot, I loaded myself with pressure in view of the next Olympics in Paris. If on an individual level I am the conductor, the lack of qualification of the team weighs on the federation and I too have suffered, as have my teammates. Furthermore, in Voghera we had some vicissitudes with the training structure that have not yet found a definitive solution.
As much as you try to leave everything out of the line of fire, sometimes you succeed, sometimes you don’t. The choice to use this year as a recovery in view of the two-year period that awaits us in view of qualifying for the Games did not give me broad enough shoulders to override everything, even if I should have taken it into account. These do not want to be either excuses or alibis, just a further awareness. Once more, archery proves to be a balance sport, not only technical and physical, above all psychological and environmental. “
THE MEN’S FINALS
To win the gold in Tlaxcala is the Korean Kim Wojjin who, after beating the host Jesus Flores with a clear 6-0 in the quarters, got the better of the Korean derby with Kim Je Deok for 7-1 in the semifinal, to then defeat the Spaniard Alvarino Garcia in the final with the result of 6-2.
The bronze goes to Mete Gazoz who has the better of Kim Je Deok for 6-4. The latter had beaten the American Brady Ellison 6-2 in the quarterfinals, while Alvarino had beaten the Brazilian D’Almeida 7-3.
THE FEMALE FINALS
Before the challenges of the men’s recurvo, the women’s ones were staged, which saw the Olympic champion An San triumph in an all-Korean final against Choi Misun that ended 6-4. The bronze instead went to the Taipei archer Chia-Mao Peng who beat the Mexican Alejandra Valencia 7-3.
THE RESULTS OF THE COMPOUND
Yesterday, in the Italian evening, the challenges for the awarding of medals in the compound took place. In the men, the favorite on the eve of Mike Schloesser won gold by beating Frenchman Nicolas Girard 150-149 in the final. Bronze for the Puerto Rican archer Jean Pizzaro after 150-146 on the host Miguel Becerra.
No surprise even among the women where the Colombian Sara Lopez won the competition, who in the final defeated the British and number 1 in the world Ella Gibson 148-146, reaching the stratospheric quota of 7 victories in the cup final. The bronze went to the other Colombian, Alejandra Usquiano, after 144-142 on the Mexican Andrea Becerra.
