World Cup Grand Final Venue: East Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh Date: 18-19 September Coverage: Video highlights on BBC Sport website
By Nick Hope BBC Sport in Edinburgh |
  Folkard will compete for England at the Commonwealth Games |
British archers Chris White and Naomi Folkard both went out in the first round of the World Cup Grand Final. Both had received wildcards to the event in Edinburgh, but lost to the top seeds in each of their events. "It wasn't as nerve-wracking as I thought it would be, but there were too many issues with the wind to deal with," said finals debutant White. Both archers will now turn to their attentions to the Commonwealth Games in Delhi run from 3-14 October. Double Olympic bronze medallist from the 1992 Barcelona Games, Simon Terry and world number one in the women's compound, Nicky Hunt, represent Great Britain's best hopes of a medal on the final day of competition. Neither White nor Folkard were expected to progress far in the competition, but White is a former world champion and has won medals in World Cup team events this year. However, White never really got to grips with the fluctuating winds which gusted through the Princes' Street Gardens, and lost 6-2 to America's eventual beaten finalist Braden Gellenthien.  White was unable to provide the result the home fans wanted |
"This year has been really up and down for me," said White. "Domestically I have been shooting really well, internationally I've tried one or two things out and I've now got equipment that I'm happy with. "Obviously the result wasn't great, but everything else I've been doing really well and hopefully it'll all click into place at the Commonwealth Games." Folkard suffered a similar fate against women's compound bronze medallist Kl Bo Bae. Despite taking the second set, her Korean opponent won three of them before coming through the encounter in five sets by a 7-3 margin. Folkard was remaining upbeat though, insisting the experience would benefit her when she joins the England archers in Delhi. "This has been a really strange year for me because in the beginning I wasn't shooting at all well. "However, I've got a game plan and I was able to practise that in this situation and I know that it works and that's given me a lot of confidence heading into the Commonwealth Games."  | 606: DEBATE |
Elsewhere in the competition, Italy's Sergio Pagni became a World Cup history-maker when he became the first archer to successfully defend a Grand Final title. He took the men's compound title with victory over Gellenthien, in what was a repeat of the gold medal match 12 months ago in Copenhagen. Pagni concluded the match in style, finishing it with six successive 10s, to clinch the title 6-4. "I'm absolutely thrilled," said Pagni after his victory. "It was a very intensive match and it is a big thrill to make history as I have, but during it, I was only thinking about shooting, not about records." In the women's recurve, Korea took gold for the second year running, this time thanks to Yun Ok Hee, who followed in the footsteps of Kwak Ye Jin 12 months ago by defeating Ukraine's Victoriya Koval 7-3 in a tense final. "This is a great honour for me," she said afterwards. "I am thrilled to win the gold medal, and thrilled that a Korean archer has won the title again."
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