Stefano Travisani v Guillaume Toucoullet – recurve men bronze | Rome 2022 European Para

we now move on to the metal matches for the recurve men's open competition here at the european championships in rome let's go the introductions [Applause] on target number two representing france [Applause] and shooting first on target number two france [Music] well there's definitely a bit of an olympic flavor to this one stefano travis sarni of italy is shooting uh at the home of italian uh the italian olympic and paralympic committee and uh of course guillermo of france is uh preparing for a home nation olympics coming up in 2024. this for the bronze medal in the recurve men's open competition [Music] so i think it's clear to all the distinction between these two archers chris as always we talk about it's just a process and you learn how to adapt uh the power arches perhaps uh especially compared to the non-disabled ones fascinating to watch uh guillaume 2k shoot with his mouth tab it's uh it's a really impressive um process no matter no matter how you put it the the strength in the the jaw and the the neck to pull the bow back but also to release um consistently very interesting technical difficulty uh shooting a recurve with a mouth tab but great to see two athletes who've worked on their process to deliver 70 meters downrange so a 24 set particularly travis sonny nine will get the set points oh he's put it into the 10. the first 10 of the match as well for a 26. and that was a very solid shot as well the two first set points go the italians way on home soil has got the pedigree though to come back into this not only is he a a very very valued member of the french para team having finished runner-up at the power championships at the start of this year the world championships at the start of this year he's also one of the reserve members of the french able body team and has been shooting in some able-bodied events as well and so when you talk about the upcoming uh paralympics and olympics in paris in three years two years time now you know it's not unheard of in archery to have athletes compete in in both events well impressive as you might be has lost the first set so he will shoot first in the second and we'll want to get back into this one immediately nine nothing eight otto finding the middle of the target for the first time in the match give him some confidence so now very much in the frenchman's hand and that is more than enough and it is the immediate comeback from game particularly important shot though still for traversing still drifting a little left to 23 there but the best arrow of the three in that second set for travassini but the important thing from a french perspective is that chica has got himself back on level terms so anything in particular you're spotting here chris in terms of form i think that fascinates me with archers who shoot with a mouth tab is that it changes the dynamics of a recurve bow at its core and recurve archers every body recap archers shoot with their fingers when they release and there's pressure horizontally from the left or the right depending on whether they're left or right-handed as their string exits around their fingers and actually it's wobbling left and right and as the as the arrow is sent down range and this is what gives um an arrow from a recurve the kind of um shark tail effect that you see if you look at it in slow motion it's wobbling left to right the problem is that with a a mouth tab archer there isn't this left to right um impact so there's only up and down from the travel of the string because he uh kiom like all master archers is just opening his mouth to let the mouth have go and the arrow go down range so you actually have to change how you tune the bow you don't use a button use a a rest below and don't pressure the arrow from the sides because if you do it simply won't work i said all that and he is shooting with a button um so i have no idea how he's got that to work but he clearly has well after a little false start there he's got the uh set underway with a seven [Music] a shot with real intent he looked like he meant that one nine love it so again it's the italian who's in command these two have been flip-flopping between the dominance 25 in the end for 2k so anything more than a seven and traversini will find himself in the lead on home soil and looks like a tight score it is a seven and that's 25 a piece so the archers were subject of course to the target judge confirming everything if it remains 25 apiece uh they are still all square but they've advanced by 1.3 anything that you spotted i clearly wasn't happy with it either happy for the outcome or oh howie how he delivered it low and right for a right-handed archer would normally indicate a little bit of a collapse um he's not comfortable you can see the pain on his face the uncomfort on his face also being cooled down in his in his spot on the shooting line uh talented talented archer silver medalist in the mixteam event with elizabeth at the last paralympic games we've just seen her take individual gold [Applause] time to get some comfort back if he's going to take advantage of the next set as he should have in the last that does mean that we will have the full regulation five sets here all square at three apiece and 2k we'll resume this bronze medal match hey itchy [Applause] nine nothing nine nothing [Applause] if you went back and overlaid those first two arrows of this set from travissani against his his previous arrows they would stand out as much cleaner um he's not collapsing at all in this set and it's it's showing on the on the scoreboard solid 27 from ticket but uh travissani has 29 available to him puts it into the nine for a 28 so the closest set so far goes the italians way and he now leads five set points to three we do of course have one remaining set and this man here well it's a must win for him and i wouldn't be surprised if he gave his sight a little twist even though he shot the best score of the match so far 1099 a little high and left if he knows they were great shots as they looked in a group that is you know pretty pretty establishing um guillaume's got the got the talent to bring this back any little point you can gain uh is is useful could be necessary could be essential so if he's given it a twist i wouldn't be surprised trying to maintain his computer here sramasani knows now that all he has to do is match his opponent and here is guillaume to collect shooting first in the fifth that's the advantage of being able to put some pressure on with some big scores but that in itself comes with pressure just what the doctor ordered [Applause] that was a soft arrow you could see his hand float a little bit away when he released our back and right that's not what got him the big score in the full set look at this nine love it so very very much in guillermo's hand a nine to put this one out of reach and confirm a shoot-off nine oh that's just what he's got at 29. that's uh out of reach now from travasani but yeah in a strange kind of way he's now got a rehearsal of what is going to be a one-arrow shootoff that is one tremendous comeback there from uh i'm not sure i can separate these two are you still she's still favoring the italian here it was a great comeback from shooting the best the best set score of the match at 29 when he absolutely needed it in a must-win situation and now travistani has a real decision to make right he shot two arrows they both landed a little bit to the right in the nine then he changed his sight his third arrow he shot a little bit to the left in the nine we've seen two fellaini control the middle he's just shot two excellent tens travis now does he move his sight did he do something different between those two arrows and the third arrow there's a lot going through your mind and ultimately there's also a little break the conditions might change um decision making in this situation is the most critical aspect of a winning archer if you can make your decision if you can believe in it and if it's the right decision ultimately you can win this this single arrow tie break any of those decisions are wrong any of those thoughts take you in the wrong direction your chances of taking this medal are pretty much well interesting we saw both athletes they're reaching for the talc uh you mentioned perspiration how much that can that affect i mean certainly in terms of uh travis sarni you gotta be thinking about his bow hand and you and clearly with tukula he is a just uh putting talc or administering tap to one hand the one that holds the bow so how much difference can that make i think it's actually a really critical thing for tukele because not only does he have to find his spot in the bow uh the bow hand obviously one of the two connections between enrique archer's technique and the hand but he has to move it under stress under pressure a little slip a little a little failure of locating there in the draw process and it's it's going to be difficult to put a good arrow down here we go shoot off for the recurve men's open bronze medal here at the european championships of 2022 yeah chicago france shooting first against stefano travis sarnie of italy one hour each to decide this and that's drifted off eight to the right it's pretty close to nine but it's a definite eight that is enough and that's what's done it travisani takes the bronze medal here at the european championships on home soil for him six points to five over gm of france yeah that was a real battle they went back and forth in that one good good set from uh travis and the fourth and then tukulei came back and and shot a fantastic one in the fifth but plenty of room inside that shoot-off arrow and travis the last four arrows have been fantastic and the last arrow particularly the best of them