Tokyo. The gold medal for the 33-year-old Mauro Nespoli from Voghera fades in the archery singles tournament at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. The blue (seventh in the world ranking) was defeated in the final by the 22-year-old Turkish Mete Gazoz (fourth in the same ranking) for 6-4. Gold medal for Turkey, therefore, silver for Italy. Bronze medal to the Japanese Takaharu Furukawa, who beat the Chinese Taipei Tang Chih-Chun 7-3 in the consolation final.
Nespoli won the first set (2-0), drew the second (3-1). The Turk won the third set (3-3), then they drew (4-4) and the last set, really decisive, went to Gazoz who scored twice 10 and once 9. Nespoli is one of the archers who shoots the arrow at the fastest speed in the world: in the race his darts reached the speed of 222 km per hour.
For Italy, medal number 23 arrived in this edition of the Olympic Games, the eighth silver.
Nespoli, 33, is originally from Voghera where he lives and trains and is an Air Force athlete with the rank of First Chief Airman. His sporting curriculum is full of successes: at the 2008 Beijing Olympics he obtained the Silver medal in the Team competition, followed by the Gold Team medal at the London Olympic Games in 2012. In 2015, Mauro Nespoli won the Silver medal at the World Championships in Copenhagen and, in 2017 the gold medal in 2017 the Gold Medal for Teams at the World Championships in Mexico City. In the first edition of the 2015 European Games he won the Gold Medal in the Mix Team competition, and he is also the European Mix Team Champion in Legnica 2018 and in Amsterdam in 2012.