Donaueschingen 2015: British sweep podium

"You do all the days of hard work and this is the reason why.”

On his birthday, Steve Prowse led Great Britain to a 1-2-3 on the visually impaired VI 2/3 podium as the World Archery Para Championships wrapped up on Sunday (30 August) in Donaueschingen, Germany.

Prowse defeated fellow Brit Peter Price, 6-2, in the 30-metre set system finals for the VI 2/3 category, which made its first appearance in the World Championships in 2009. He won the visually impaired gold medal at the world para archery Championships, when it was organised by the International Paralympic Committee, in 2007.

Carmel Bassett beat Italian Claudio Peruffo, also 6-2, buoyed by a 23-point second end to make it an all British podium.

“I have not come down to the ground yet, I am still a bit shaky,” said Prowse after his victory. “It has just been a phenomenal experience. You do all the days of hard work and this is the reason why.”

On the same day Prowse was shooting his final, he turned 57 – and despite admitting to forgetting his own birthday, he was delighted he could celebrate such a timely gold medal.

“It is probably best I cannot see because it may have been overwhelming, otherwise,” Prowse joked.

“But I was so happy to have Peter alongside me in the final. He has worked just as hard and it was one of his best performances. He had me going for a bit.”

In the VI 1 category, the USA’s Janice Walth captured gold, followed by Great Britain’s Roger Rees-Evans and Australia’s Hazel Hockley with silver and bronze, respectively.

Compound Open

Eleonora Sarti was the second seed after the ranking round in Donaueschingen. That did not deter the Italian, who made her way to the finals and shot a 10 to defeat China’s Lin Yueshan for gold in the women’s compound open.

It also marked Sarti’s first World Championships title.

She had already collected two bronze medals in Donaueschingen, the first paired with teammate Alberto Simonelli in the mixed team and the second in the compound women’s open team finals.

“I felt more secure alone in the arena,” Sarti admitted. “In a team, you must take responsibility for everyone in the team. In a team of two or three people, you work together and act as one. But if you’re alone, your responsibility is only for yourself.”

In the men’s compound, Simonelli, who won the 1998 World Archery Para Championships, came up just short against South Korea’s Lee Ouk Soo. Simonelli trailed going into the last end and nodded understandingly as his Korean opponent drilled a 10 with his last arrow to take the title.

Great Britain’s John Stubbs took the bronze in the men’s compound.

Russia won the compound women open team title, and Germany came in second.

China captured the compound open mixed team title, and Great Britain took the silver.

The United States came away with gold in the men’s open team, followed by Turkey and Italy, respectively.

W1 Open (recurve/compound)

The Czech Republic’s David Drahoninsky won his first individual World Championships title, to add to his world silver and bronze – and 2008 Paralympic title – in the W1 men’s category on Sunday.

He defeated Great Britain’s John Walker, 143-136, in the gold medal match.

The Czech athlete won bronze at Bangkok 2013 and silver at Turin 2011. In Donaueschingen, he added the elusive gold medal to his ever-growing collection.

“I’m so happy to have finally won a World Championships,” Drahoninsky said. “Before this competition I felt very confident and I couldn’t tell you why.”

Italy’s Fabio Azzolini came in third.

On the women’s side, China’s Ying Guo captured the W1 open title, defeating Great Britain’s Jo Frith and Jessica Stretton, respectively.

For the Chinese, it was a bounce back from their silver medal finish, behind to the British, in Saturday’s (29 August) W1 open mixed team finals. Team Russia followed up with the bronze.

Saturday also featured the men’s W1 open team finals, with Team USA capturing the gold, Russia with the silver and China rounding out the event with bronze.

Recurve Open

The USA’s eighth-seeded Eric Bennet recorded a 9.1 average arrow in the gold medal match of the recurve men’s open, defeating China’s Shi Xu Cheng for the world title.

“I have been shooting internationally for over 10 years and it is a long time coming, but it feels awesome,” Bennett said.

Iran’s Gholamreza Rahimi captured the bronze medal.

China’s Chunyan Wu took home the women’s title, followed by Russia’s Svetlana Barantseva for the silver and Italy’s Elisabetta Mijno for the bronze.

The men’s compound team defeated South Korea in the final match on Saturday for gold, while China finished third for the bronze.

But the Chinese dominated the recurve women’s and mixed teams categories, taking both titles and handing Russia the silver. South Korea took bronze in the women’s team event, while Italy took third in the mixed category.

Full recaps from Donaueschingen 2015 can be found at World Archery’s website. Also visit the event website for complete results.

Eighty-two quota places for Rio 2016 were awarded following the Donaueschingen 2015 World Archery Para Championships, which acted as the primary qualifying tournament for the Paralympic Games. A country-by-country breakdown of the quota places can be found on World Archery’s website.