The biggest shock came from Mongolia. Ranked fourth in the recurve mixed team following strong ranking round performances from Munkhbaatar Namjilmaa and Selengee Demberel, they defeated top seeds Wu Chunyan and Zhao Lixue of China 5-1 to reach the gold final – a result that sent shockwaves through the Chinese camp.
Mongolia will face Italy’s Elisabetta Mijno and Stefano Travisani for gold.
“We’ve been here a few times, so it’s nice to confirm our ability,” said Mijno. “Anything can happen; we’re just here to do our best.”
In compound, Türkiye will meet China in the gold medal match after defeating Great Britain and India in their respective semifinals.
China’s young stars, Zhang and Wang Liya, lead the W1 competition, and they will face Czech archers Sarka Pultar Musilova and David Drahoninsky – the latter having been eliminated in the first round of the individual competition by Paolo Tonon.
“It didn’t work out in the individuals, but I can make it happen with Sarka this weekend.” said Drahoninsky, now one of the most experienced and decorated archers in the peloton.
“What keeps me going? Archery is like a drug. I won a medal in Beijing and I got addicted,” he added.
The competition continues on Thursday with individual eliminations.
