GB's Ella Gibson has won the silver medal in Shanghai for the second stage of the World Cup.
On the live finals stage, Compound world number one Ella competed in the semi-finals. She took an early lead in her match against India’s Kaur Avneet, gaining three points after end three, 88-85. By the last end, Ella only let the Indian archer get within two points of her, taking the win 146-144.
In the gold final, Ella faced the Korean wildcard Cho Su A, who before this event previously ranked only 118th in the world. She opened with a 30 against Ella’s 27 to take the lead. In the second end, Ella brought back a point by shooting a 29 to the Korean’s 28. However, a string of two consecutive 30s from Su A gave her an 8 point advantage, 118-110, with just one end to go. Ella finished strong with a 30, but a 28 from Su A was all she needed to take the win 146-140.
Ella said: “I’m really happy to start the season with another World Cup medal. Of course, gold is what I wanted rather than silver. But I think despite the difficult morning I had and a number of things going wrong, it’s a really positive way to carry on the season and I can’t wait for the next World Cup.”
The recurves also had a good week out in the Shanghai stadium. World number one Penny Healey finished in 6th place, making her the highest finishing European, after narrowly losing to Korean Choi Misun 6-4 in the quarter finals. Penny’s teammate and world number two Bryony Pitman, finished her week in 8th place after losing the quarter finals to the soon to be silver medallist Kang Chae Young.
Bryony said: “I’m happy to have finished 8th in Shanghai. After some problems in qualification I’m glad I pulled it back in the matches to have my third top 8 finish at the last four World Cups I’ve been to."
In the team round, the GB women once against came up against Korea. They fought throughout the quarter finals, but in the end Korea took the win 5-1, placing GB in 7th.
Bryony added: “7th in the team too and we still have a lot more to give. It’s also pretty awesome to have GB in 1st and 2nd in the recurve women’s world rankings!”
Next up for the team will be the third stage of the World Cup in Colombia in two weeks time. Keep an eye out for the team announcement very soon!
For all the scores and final placings, see the link here.
