Sportpark Am Hallo Stadion was the setting for the opening rounds of Archery and where our GB Students got their Mixed Compound journey underway. Making up the team in Rhine-Ruhr was University of Kent’s Ajay Scott and UCL’s Hallie Boulton.
The competition has a slightly underwhelming start as the team started the first round with a bye. The first match was against Israel where the team won every set to move onto the next round 154-148.
Next up was team Turkey, again the team played a strong game winning the first three sets and only dropping the last by one point but the earlier sets where enough to take a 158-154 win and progress into the next round and the semi finals.
The semi final was against Korea who proved to be a seriously tough competitor. Korea won the first three sets and then drew the final one handing GB Students their first loss of the competition.
The loss in the semis set up a bronze medal playoff match against Chinese Taipei. This time in the finals setting of Zeche Zollverein, a hard coal mine operated in Essen from 1851 to 1986. The stunning backdrop set up the perfect set up for the team to rise to the challenge and claim a medal. A tense affair ensued from here on out with the first set tied 36-36. The second and third set also ended in a tie 39-39 and 38-38 respectively leaving the scores level 113-113 going into the final set.
Ajay and Hallie turned up the heat in the final set not pointing an arrow out of line and taking a clean 40 points to Chinese Taipe’s 35, taking the final score line to 153-148 and securing the bronze medal and GB Students sixth medal of the games.
After the match Ajay Scott said “I knew we could do it. I was telling her (teammate Hallie Boulton) yesterday. It has been over a decade since we won a medal here so I was like, ‘let’s make some history’. It’s good that we could do it.”
“We haven’t shot in a mixed team before this week. So we had to get used to it, but I think we worked really well with each other.”
“It’s always nice to have your teammates behind you, cheering. It’s nice to have that boost behind you.”
Hallie Boulton added “After losing in the semi final it actually made me feel a lot more confident to shoot here, because I’d done it once and I felt like I’m used to it now. It was only one match but you get a feel for the venue, you know what you’re expecting.”
“I knew what to expect when I walked out there, but obviously I was still nervous, because you want to win.”
“I was so excited to come because it’s such a big place and it means a lot. It was so exciting to see what it was like.”
“I wanted to win a medal, it’s the biggest competition I’ve done.”
