Italian duo Mauro Nespoli and Natalia Valeeva earned their nation's first gold in Baku by winning the mixed team archery event ©Getty Images

Italian duo Natalia Valeeva and Mauro Nespoli secured their nation’s maiden European Games gold medal with a hard-fought 5-3 victory over Georgia in the archery mixed team final here today.

Following a fairly safe passage to the showpiece contest, Valeeva and Nespoli recovered from a slow start to seal an entertaining win in what was a high-scoring match-up against the talented pair of Khatuna Narimanidze and Lasha Pkhakadze.

Ukraine clinched the final podium place by beating Slovenia in the bronze medal game.

The Georgians, who were fourth after the ranking round, started the better of the two nations and they took the first set after a tentative opening from the highly-fancied Italian duo.

But testament to their ability, Olympic team champion Nespoli alongside Moldovan-born Valeeva recovered from dropping the first set by amassing 39 points in the second, which included three straight 10’s to restore parity.

They managed to repeat the scoring feat in the third set, which proved too hot for the Georgians to handle, to edge into a 4-2 lead.

The fourth was perhaps the most enthralling of the final as the pendulum swung this way and that, and following a good score of 36 from Georgia, Valeeva could only manage to hit seven with her penultimate arrow.

That left Nespoli needing a 10 to square the set and take the vital point which would give them gold, and sure enough the 27-year-old landed his arrow in the dead centre of the target to seal a deserved triumph.

Nespoli was in superb form and a 10 on his last arrow sealed victory for his nation
Nespoli was in superb form and a 10 on his last arrow sealed victory for his nation ©Getty Images

“It is the first gold medal for Italy at the European Games and this makes me very proud,” Nespoli said.

“Usually, we use the first few arrows to calibrate the sight and after that, we go.”

“It was time to get another gold and winning it here fills me with pride.”

The Ukrainian team of Lidiia Sichenikova and Heorhiy Ivantskyy never looked like losing their bronze medal match with Slovenia's Ana Umer and Rok  as they dominated from start to finish, eventually sealing a 5-1 success.

After winning the first two sets, the two teams shared the spoils in the third which was enough to ensure Ukraine earned a podium finish.

“The strongest Europeans were here and yes we have medals but the World Championships which is giving places to the Olympics is ahead of us and it's very important for us,” Ivantskyy said.


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