There was more drama at the archery range on Thursday morning, with Australians Ben Nott and Alice Ingley both fighting hard in the initial knock out stage of the mixed doubles only to be later eliminated in the last set of quarterfinals.

In an Olympic first, archers have been paired with athletes from different countries based on the scores shot during Tuesday’s ranking process. And like yesterday, the Australian archers fought tooth and nail for their spots in the last 16, having both used their final chances to progress.

For Nott, who was paired with Slovenian shooter Brina Bosic, everything came down to the final arrow in the final set, with the AIS scholarship holder needing a nine to force a tie-break or a 10 to win.

With the breeze swirling and the rain threatening to fall, Nott sailed his arrow straight on 10, knocking his Spanish and Singaporean opponents out of the pairs competition.

“I just wanted to shoot a 10 – I knew that’s what I needed but I hadn’t shot one yet so I knew it was coming. It just happened at the right time,” Nott said.

“It’s great we got through – Bosic shot well – she opened with a 10 and then I was shooting eights but I could feel a 10 coming on for myself.

“I’ve been beaten in that position a few times so I just wanted to get through and thankfully the 10 was enough."

Having ranked 24th, Ingley drew Japanese sharp shooter Tsukushi Koiwa and made a good start consistently hitting nines.

Continuing through to the last set, the Australian/Japanese team thought they had clinched a win, only to be later told there was a scoring error and they would have to face the German/Canadian duo again.

Despite the hiccup, Ingley and her partner fronted their opponents again and this time there was no disputing the scoreboard. Australia/Japan closed it out 7-3.

In their quaterfinal match, Ingley and Koiwa faced the Spanish and Bangladeshi pairing of Miriam Alarcon and Md Emadadul Haque Milon. After going down in the first set, the pair fought back to lead two sets to one.

Koiwa announced himself as one of the characters of the tournament, cheering, fist pumping and dancing after hitting consecutive 10s to take the third set and send the pair into the lead.

But a fight back forced the match to a shoot off, with Ingley and Koiwa narrowly going down after the Japanese hit a four needing only a six to progress.

Nott and his Slovenian partner faced Turkish girl Begunhan Unsal and Singaporean Abdud  Dayyan Mohd Jaffar in their quarterfinal. The Turkish/Singaporean pair raced to an early lead only for Nott and his new companion to fight back for a thrilling final set. Needing an eight to draw, Moh Jaffar scored a nine to progress to the semi-finals.

Nott gave his all in the five set decider hitting five 10s and three nines to come within a whisker of the semi-finals.

Competition continues tomorrow with the individual women’s and on Saturday with the men’s individual.

Elliot Woods
AOC