Since the report that followed the successful Para World Championships, the GBR Para Archery Team have been in further action at a number of events, with some great successes along the way.
European Para Championships – 14-20 August 2023
The European Para Championships took place in Rotherham, the Netherlands, and the finals venue had an interesting back drop – it would have been quite easy for the athletes to be distracted by passing ships!!
The Fletchers were in attendance to cheer on the GBR team – Past Master and Chair of the Trustees Andrew McMillan, Almoner Hilda Gibson, Past Master Chris Brown together with Liverymen Felicity Brown, Gordon Sharp and his wife Marion.
The GBR team recorded some good results overall:
Recurve Men Open Doubles – Dave Phillips and Cameron Radigan secured the GOLD medal, winning 6-2 against Turkiye in the final.
Compound Men Open – Nathan McQueen secured the GOLD medal with a 142 – 137 win over F Gale Montorio of Spain.
Compound Open Mixed Team of Nathan and Phoebe Paterson Pine beat Italy 152 – 138 in the final to take home the GOLD.
The W1 Mixed Team of Victoria Kingstone and Martin Saych secured a Bronze medal, as did the Compound Open Women’s Doubles Team of Phoebe Paterson Pine and Jodie Grinham.
Also, although not shooting for GBR, Tamas Gaspar, who shoots mainly in the UK and is from Hungary, and who has been supported by the Fletchers Trust, won the W1 Men’s Bronze medal.
The Championships also included a qualifying stage for the Paralympics 2024. VICTORIA KINGSTONE was successful in securing a Paralympic place for GBR, winning the W1 Women “Quota Tournament”.
European Para Archery Cup Final 9-10 September 2023
With completion taking place across qualifying legs during the year, the top ranked Para Archers in Europe came together in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic, to compete for the Para Cup Medals.
GBR had another good performance, ending 2nd in the medal table standings to Italy.
In the Compound Women Open category, Phoebe Patereson Pine took home the Gold, beating her compatriot, Jess Stretton, in the final, Jess taking Silver.
In the Compound Open Mixed Team, Phoebe teamed up with Jamie Harris and secured Silver medal, while in the W1 Mixed Team, Victoria Kingstone and Martin Saych secured the Bronze medal. Victoria took the individual Bronze medal in the W1 Women’s category, and Martin the Bronze in the W1 men.
Tamas Gaspar was again amongst the medals, winning the Silver medal in W1.
IBSA World Games – August 2023.
IBSA – International Blind Sport Federation – have a Four Yearly international multi-sport event, celebrating Blind Sports – some of which are Paralympic disciplines, others are not.
In 2023, the host city was Birmingham in the UK, and Visually Impaired Archery (currently a non-paralympic sport) was included for the first time.
Some 27 Visually Impaired Archers competed across three categories – VI 1, VI 2-3, and VI Open. GBR were well represented. The Fletchers Trust provided support for all the competing GBR archers towards the cost of accommodation for their spotters, and also provided the funds for the hire of the targets for the event.
The event was attended by The Master and Trustees of the Trust, who also presented some of the gifts at medal ceremonies. Mrs Hilda Gibson, Almoner of The Trust, was the Technical Delegate, and Graham Potts, Liveryman, was the on-venue commentator.
It was fantastic to see so many Visually Impaired athletes shootng together and witness immense skill. A number of the competitors were also classified during the event, some securing the first Visually Impaired, and indeed Para classifications for their countries.
Results for GBR were as follows:
Visually Impaired 1 Category: Clive Jones won the Silver Medal
Visually Impaired 2/3 Category: Steve Prowse won the Gold Medal, beating Nick Thomas in the final who took home the Silver Medal.
Visually Impaired Open Category – A clean sweep for GBR, with Terry Piper winning Gold, Andrea Thomas Silver and Debora Lea Wright the Bronze.
https://www.fletchers.org.uk/index.php/the-trust/item/464-para-archery-round-up-october-2023#sigProId9d13dae60d