Morning session of Day 3: Women Team Eliminations.
Quotes from gold medallists Guendalina SARTORI, Elena TONETTA and Natalia VALEEVA (ITA) after Italy beat Belarus 5-3 in the women’s team archery final at Tofiq Bahramov Stadium on Thursday.
Guendalina SARTORI
On winning:
“This is my first gold at this level. This is an Olympic-level competition. It’s a wonderful recognition.”
On dealing the swirling wind at the Tofiq Bahramov stadium:
“The wind is strong, but we are stronger.”
Elena TONETTA
On her feelings after her final arrow:
When I shot the last arrow, I burst into tears. The emotion that was inside me for a long time just burst out. I haven’t won an important medal for a very long time. I haven’t been on the top step of the podium for ages.”
On following in the footsteps of Italy’s mixed team, who won gold on Wednesday:
“Yesterday, when they played the national anthem for the mixed team, I said to Guendalina (SARTORI), ‘I want to hear this for us as well’.”
On whether winning gold will be a springboard for the individual event, which starts on Friday:
“Certainly, having won gold today is a massive boost to our confidence.”
Natalia VALEEVA
On following up her gold in the mixed team event with gold in the team competition:
“This is a beautiful prize – my second gold in 24 hours.”
On whether she slept last night, having won her first European Games gold medal:
“I slept badly, but I don’t lack desire to win. I’m never satisfied. I’m used to not sleeping, with three children.
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Quotes from silver medallists Ekaterina TIMOFEYEVA and Alena TOLKACH (BLR).
Ekaterina TIMOFEYEVA (BLR)
On defying their No9 seeding and winning a silver medal:
“This is so great. Being here is really good. We are proud of ourselves and we did our best for the name of our country.”
On only managing to shoot a score of one with her final arrow of the first set:
“I had a really short amount of time. Because of the lack of time I couldn’t really concentrate. That’s why I couldn’t shoot well.”
Alena TOLKACH (BLR)
On defying their No9 seeding to win a silver medal:
“We believed in ourselves and we believed in our team. We did our best.”
On how they will celebrate their success:
“We still don’t know how we will celebrate because we still have competition upcoming. I guess we will celebrate this medal at home.”
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Quotes from Veronika MARCHENKO, Anastasia PAVLOVA and Lidiia SICHENIKOVA (UKR) after Ukraine beat Russia 5-4.
On winning the bronze medal:
Lidiia SICHENIKOVA (UKR)
“We lost out on the chance to go for gold by the smallest of margins but this medal is also very good. We can’t win every time.”
Anastasia PAVLOVA (UKR)
“We don’t know how it happened after we lost the first set. We composed ourselves. We are happy now, we did well.”
Veronika MARCHENKO (UKR)
“We were a little bit emotional, a little bit stressed. The wind was blowing. It is good experience for us to shoot in the first European Games in these conditions.”
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