ARCHERY: There were no medals for Australian archers at the opening World Cup event in Shanghai, but head coach Ya-Ping Shih is happy with what she saw.
“We had three athletes shoot personal bests in the 72 arrow round, and we exposed some of our newer team members to international competition,” she said.
“The team as a whole are definitely on the right steps towards the World Championships, and have been able to identify opportunities to further improve their shooting.”
The highlights from Shanghai were undoubtedly Robert Timms making the last sixteen of the men’s compound, and a return to form for 2012 Olympian, Taylor Worth, in the men’s recurve.
There were also encouraging performances from Semra Lingard in the women’s recurve, Louise Redman in the women’s compound, and Pat Coghlan in the men’s compound.
But coach Shih is well aware of the challenges that lay ahead for her team.
“It was a challenging week for the team,” she said.
“For some it was their first ever World Cup event. For others it was their first after a long time away from international competition.
“It was our first World Cup in nearly 12 months, and everyone has realised that everyone has improved. The bar is now higher than it was 12 months ago.”
There are opportunities coming up for the Australian team members to fine-tune their performances ahead of the World Championships in Denmark in late July.
The four-man men’s recurve team will head to Turkey for World Cup number two later this month. Of the four – Taylor Worth, Ryan Tyack, Alec Potts and Matt Gray – only three will go to the World Championships.
Shih says there is a lot at stake in Denmark.
“The World Championships is going to be really tough, and for recurve it’s also an Olympic qualifier,” she said.
“We need our men’s and women’s team to finish top eight to win three positions for the Olympics.
“All of our teams have realised the standard across the world has improved further, and that they need to keep working hard.
“If our athletes can rank in the top eight individually or as a team, than they will give themselves every chance of medaling at the World Championships."
ROSS SOLLY FOR ARCHERY AUSTRALIA
