Britain’s para athletes will be bringing three gold medals and one silver back from the 5th Fazza Para Archery world ranking tournament in Dubai. They topped the medal standings and came so close to adding more.
Our third gold came courtesy of compound mixed team Nathan Macqueen and our own Phoebe Pine. They saw off Japan 142-134 and India in a shoot-off and faced Italy in the title match. They were in top form – and it showed as the Italians were emphatically beaten 146-132.
Gold and silvers as teams shine at Euro Grand Prix in Bucharest
There was a hard-earned silver too for Ella Gibson, Lucy O’Sullivan and Lucy Mason. The third seeds fought off challenges from Ukraine, winning 228-215, and beating Italy 230-227 to face Estonia for the title. It was another tough battle but the Estonians edged three points ahead to claim the gold.
Well done to both teams!
In the individual tournament there was drama for Lucy Mason and Layla Annison too as both the gold and bronze finals went to shoot-offs. Seventh seed Lucy beat Styliani Kokkinou Georgiadou of Cyprus 145 – 141, Estonia’s Emily Hoim 140-139 and Croatian second seed Amanda Mlinaric 145-142. That brought her face to face with Layla, who had seen off Greece’s Anastasia Tsakiri, Italy’s Sara Ret and Estonia’s Meeri-Marita Paas in a shoot-off. The British showdown was close but Lucy won 145-142 to face Germany’s Janine Meissner in the gold medal match.
That proved even closer. They tied on 143, and Lucy shot a 10 but Meissner hit the X to take gold. It was a similar story for Layla. She and Italian top seed Marcella Tonioli each scored 142 and both shot a 10 – but the Italian’s arrow edged closer to the centre!
To put theses performances in perspective Compound Programme Manager Jon Nott said: “It was the best team effort I have ever seen on an archery field from GB archers. We worked together to win our quota places in style!”
Our athletes also won the last two quota places needed to ensure we have the maximum one per discipline to add to our recurve team place at the European Games in Minsk.
Thanks to Malcolm Grant from Brixham Archers!
Malcolm, who has been invited later this year to run a workshop for the county on ‘Shooting Aids for a range of disabilities’ demonstrated his skills during a couple of visits by Roger Crang to Brixham Archers last week. Malcolm is developing a chest harness for Sue Sanders to shoot compound and following an earlier version (shown) has added some modifications to further customise it to meet Sue’s requirements.
Sue using an earlier adaptation.
Men in Sheds Group going from strength to strength!
Certainly launched carefully and feeling our way, but some great socialising, some very productive and rewarding projects on the go! Members range from 50 to 70 something, wide range of skills, experiences and all up for making new acquaintances and learning new skills! Open to existing and non-club members.
