Rebecca Jones finishes 7th in New Zealand’s Youth Olympic archery debut

New Zealand’s Rebecca Jones has finished seventh in the girls’ archery competition at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires after fighting her way up the brackets from a seeding of 31st.

Jones eventually lost her quarterfinal match to Mexico’s Valentina Vasquez.

“I wasn’t even expecting to get this far through so it’s been really cool. I was just out there doing what I could and having a good time. I was just having fun shooting,” she said.

“It’s been so amazing. I feel so proud to be part of the New Zealand team and it’s an honour to represent my country here.”

Jones scored 587 out of a possible 720 points for the 72-arrow 60-metre ranking round and seeded bottom from last of the 32 girls in the competition.

But in her first match, she upset number-two-ranked Japanese archer Uehara Ruka in a shoot-off, shooting a better nine with her single arrow to win the tiebreak.

The New Zealander then beat Namibia’s Quinn Reddig, 7-3, in the second round but came up short in her quarterfinal match with Vazquez.

“I was just having fun and shooting like normal. It’s really exciting, I feel really proud to be there and it’s just amazing that I made it this far because I didn’t expect to,” said Jones.

“I was the first archer from my country to qualify for the Youth Olympics, so I’m really proud to have done that.”

“I’ve learned so much here, more than I ever have at a competition. So I hope I can take it away and take it a lot further.”

Jones started archery after watching The Hunger Games and wanting to be like the character Katniss Everdeen.

The third edition of the Youth Olympic Games takes place on 12-17 October 2018 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.