Britain's Olympic quota winning women's recurve team has taken bronze in dramatic style at the 2019 Hyundai World Archery Championships in 's-Hertogenbosch!
Sarah Bettles, Bryony Pitman and Naomi Folkard had defeated Italy 6-2 to secure the all-important three quota places, then cruised to a 6-2 win over Germany. Korea denied them a spot in the title showdown, leaving them to face China in the battle for bronze.
The British trio took the first two sets. China fought back to take the next two. That meant a shoot-off...and China scored three nines. But Sarah, Bryony and Naomi scored an eight, nine and a 10 to claim the medal.
Â"This just finishes off the week. We came here hoping to get a medal and that's what we've been done. It's the cherry on top,” Sarah told World Archery.
Earlier, recurvers Tom Hall, Patrick Huston and Alex Wise also secured three Olympic places - making it a clean sweep for Britain - when they beat Japan 6-0. But then they lost by the same margin by top seeds Korea. The mixed team of Sarah and Tom beat Iran 5-1 but were edged out in a shoot-off against Turkey.
The compound men's team of Neil Bridgewater, James Mason and Adam Ravenscroft beat Australia 234-232 but lost 233-235 to France. Layla Annison, Ella Gibson and Lucy Mason were beaten by a single point by Kazakhstan and the mixed team of Ella and Adam lost a shoot-off against Russia.
In the individual competitions, recurver Naomi Folkard beat Bangladesh's Beauty Ray in a shoot-off and Ukrainian Lidiia Sichenikova 7-1 but fell 2-6 to Michelle Kroppen of Germany. Sarah Bettles defeated Sweden's Erika Jangnas 6-0 but fell 2-6 to Nguyen Thi Phuong of Vietnam. Bryony Pitman saw off New Zealand's Olivia Hodgson 6-0 but lost 4-6 to Russia's Ksenia Perova.
Patrick Huston beat El Salvador's Oscar Ticas in one shoot-off then lost a double shoot-off against Russia's Erdem Irdyneev. Tom Hall beat Alexandros Karageorgiou of Greece 6-2 but lost a shoot-off against Australia's Ryan Tyack. Alex Wise defeated Bangladesh's Mohammed Hakim Ahmed Rubel 6-2 but was then edged out by Canada's Crispin Duenas.
Compounder Adam Ravenscroft saw off Ashim Kumer Das of Bangladesh 147-138 and Switzerland's Kevin Burri 149-147 but lost 142-149 to Korean top seed Kin Jongho. Neil Bridgewater defeated Australian Patrick Coghlan 147-142 and Suleyman Araz of Turkey 146-141 but was edged out by Evren Cagiran. James Mason lost to Danie Oosthuizen of Australia.
Ella Gibson swept past Italy's Sara Ret 143-140 and Viktoria Balzhanova of Russia 143-141 but lost 144-146 to another Russian, Elizaveta Knyazeva. Layla Annison beat Triya Resky Andriyani of Indonesia 143-136 but lost by a single point to India's Jyothi Surekha Vennam. Lucy Mason beat New Zealand's Lisa Walker 141-135 but fell 140-144 to Russia's Natalia Avdeeva.
Above: Naomi Folkard, Bryony Pitman and Sarah Bettles celebrate. Picture: World Archery
