A team of British archers took to the field to compete in the World Transplant Games in Dresden, Germany this summer.
Thirteen British archers were selected for the team with the requirements that they needed to each have won a medal at a previous British or international event, and to have received at least one life-prolonging organ transplantation.
On 20 August, the archery competition got underway at the Games, which aims to raise awareness of organ donation. The qualification round was shot at 30 metres on an 80cm face with three dozen scoring arrows. Team captain Sam Newton shot the third highest score across all age groups, and ranked first in his own age group.
After the qualification round, eight GB archers went through to the head-to-heads, which was done as one dozen arrows, culminative scoring. Sam Newton, John Richie, Donna Barrington-Smith, and Elaine Zanjani all came away with gold while Richard Goldring, Susan Wrightson, Christine Keown took silver, and Michael Halward scored bronze. John, Richard, and Michael ensured an all-British podium as they won all three medals in the male 70-79 age group.
The afternoon gave more opportunities for medals with the team round. Nine teams started the competition with the top four going through to heads to heads. The GB teams ranked first and fourth, unfortunately meaning they would meet in the semi finals. Germany faced Netherlands in the other semi final. The GB team comprising of Donna Barrington-Smith, Christine Keown, and Sam Newton got through to the final with a 6-0 win, while the Germans beat a competitive Dutch team 6-2. The final was an understandably tense affair, with the first set going to the British team by a single point. The second set was more conclusive, thanks to a white shot by the second German archer. In the final set on the last arrow Sam needed a three to win, thanks to some solid shooting from Donna and Christine, but he stole victory with a thrilling final arrow in the 10.
Sam said: "This win was made possible due to the support given by Archery GB in allowing the squad to practice at the Performance Archery Centre with coach Lloyd Brown. Nobody in the squad had shot in three-person teams and the opportunity to learn and practice this was invaluable, having two teams in the semi finals was evidence of this. Funding from the Worshipful Company of Fletchers also made this possible.
"Special thanks also needs to go to Pete Probert, who entirely self-funded his trip to come and act as coach and support the trip, to which the entire squad are exceptionally appreciative."
Congratulations to the team!
