British men secure bye into second round of Olympic qualification tournament

Great Britain’s recurve men’s team qualified eighth from a field of 55 nations competing for one of eight Olympic quota spots at the 2019 Hyundai World Archery Championships in ’s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands.

Tom Hall topped the leaderboard after the first end of the ranking round as the only archer – of the 200 on the field – to shoot a perfect 60 points to open qualification, and finished the day with a personal best of 679 and the 13th individual seed.

It’s the best British men’s team performance for many years.

“It’s really intense. There are probably 20 teams that have a realistic chance at making the top eight for Olympic qualification,” said head coach Richard Priestman.  “It was less stressful when I was an archer, to be honest.”

Patrick Huston was bullish about his result.

“Six-seventy-five is the second highest score I’ve ever shot in competition,” he said. “I came in today with my performance analysis journal and always my goal statement of the bottom is to get Olympic spaces with a full qualified team.”

The top-eight seeding in the team event means that the British men avoid an extra match on Tuesday – and go straight into a decider for the Olympic places.

Hall, Huston and Alex Wise will face the winner of the first-round clash between Japan and Iran in that crucial match on Wednesday.

“We did some really powerful stuff today. It’s the best qualification the three of us have ever had,” said Huston. 

“Obviously our main requirement this week is the Olympic spots, but we're looking for medal-match performances and coming in eighth is going to go a long way towards that.”

The 2019 Hyundai World Archery Championships take place on 10-16 June in ’s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands.