The first stage of this year's "European Grand Prix" in archery has ended in triumph for Ukrainian archers in the Turkish city of Antalya. Victories in the team competitions were achieved by the men's and women's national teams of Ukraine, and in the final of the women's competition, young Kharkiv native Kateryna Ksenofontova lost to Dola Banerjee of India – 96:102.
In the battle for third place, another archer from Ukraine's first capital, Tetiana Berezhna, defeated Russian Anna Karasyova. The women's team, which took revenge on the Indians in the final, also included Lviv natives Kateryna Palekha and Yuliia Lobzhenidze, Tetiana Dorokhova from Chernivtsi, and Odesa native Nataliia Burdeina.
Among the Ukrainians, the best performer was the 2005 indoor world champion Markiyan Ivashko of Lviv, who in the quarterfinals lost by just one point to another medalist of the competition – Italian Di Buo – 107:108, while the victory went to Russian Balzhinim Tsyrempilov. However, in the team competition final, the Ukrainians, who also included Lviv native Dmytro Hrachov, Kharkiv natives Oleksandr Serdiuk and Viktor Ruban, Kyiv native Ihor Parkhomenko, and Odesa native Pavlo Bekker, also "avenged" their failures in the individual standings against the Italian team.
The most important start of the season – the summer world championship – will take place at the end of June in Madrid (Spain), and the next Grand Prix stage starts on May 31 in Sopot, Poland.