2008 Paralympic Games

Day 3 - Sept. 11

2008 PARALYMPIC GAMES:  U.S. Archery Team Results Still Shooting for Gold

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 11, 2008

BEIJING, China--As the archery competition whittled down even more in today's second round of eliminations, four American archers are still shooting for gold.

With Jeff Fabry (Tulare, Calif.) enjoying another bye, five of the six remaining U.S. archers competed in today's 1/8^th elimination rounds. Joe Bailey (Flushing, Mich.), T.J. Pemberton (Guthrie, Okla.) and Lindsey Carmichael (Lago Vista, Texas) pulled through their matches and will progress to tomorrow's quarterfinals for their categories.

Kevin Stone (Kodak, Tenn.) was once again the first American archer to compete this morning in the Men's Individual Recurve -W1/W2. Stone's successful finish from yesterday didn't carry over to today, resulting in a four-point loss to Italian Marco Vitale. 

Eric Bennett's (Surprise, Ariz.) competition followed soon after. His score of 114 and six 10's weren't enough to match the now Paralympic record-holder John Stubbs. Stubbs seems to have made record breaking a hobby these games; his winning score of 117 beat the former record of 112 set by Italian Alberto Simonelli just yesterday.

Pemberton and Bailey competed simultaneously in separate courts this morning. Pemberton successfully unseated the third ranked British archer Fred Stevens with a score of 115. Shadowing his teammate, Bailey eliminated Keijo Kallunki of Finland also with a score of 115. While certainty is scarce during elimination rounds, there is one outcome that is sure; by tomorrow evening either Pemberton or Bailey will be eliminated from competition. Their duo success means the pair will be pitted against each other in the semifinals of the Men's Individual Compound- Open tomorrow.

If the opening arrow of Carmichael's match against Magali Comte of Switerland had been any indication of the outcome, Carmichael would not have been expected to win. Despite the pressure of having missed the target and opened with a zero, Carmichael pulled ahead of her opponent by 11 points by the match's end. The win leads her into the quarterfinals and a head-to-head with fifth seeded archer Kim Ki-Hee of Korea.

Fabry will begin competition tomorrow in the Men's Individual Compound - W1 quarterfinals. His opponent, Fabio Luca Azzolini of Italy beat Oliveir Hatem of France in yesterday's 1/8^th Elimination Rounds. Fabry still holds the second-ranked seed while Azzolini is slightly behind at tenth.