Twenty five archers will battle it out in June for places on the England team at the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games.
Competition for places is likely to be intense with all six member of Britain’s Beijing 2008 Olympic team among the athletes to progress from the first qualification competition at Lilleshall.
They will be among the 25 athletes taking part in the second qualification competition at the Meriden Archery Club in the West Midlands on 19 and 20 June.
England will take a team of a dozen archers to Delhi for the Commonwealth Games, which run from 3-14 October – three in each of the men’s recurve, women’s recurve, men’s compound and women’s compound disciplines.
Beijing 2008 Olympians Charlotte Burgess, Naomi Folkard and Alison Williamson will be joined in the women’s recurve qualification competition by Louise Colville and Amy Oliver. Williamson has competed at the last five Olympic Games, winning an individual bronze at Athens in 2004.
The trio that won the women’s team compound gold at last month’s test event in Delhi – Andrea Gales, Nicky Hunt and Nichola Simpson, when Simpson also won the individual bronze – are among six archers battling it out for places on the England Commonwealth Games team. They are joined by Beijing 2008 Paralympics Games gold medallist Dani Brown as well as Rikki Bingham and Lucy Holderness.
Commonwealth Games England will announce the selection of archers for the team for Delhi after the second qualification competition at Meriden.
Archery features on the Commonwealth Games programme for only the second time in Delhi, after making its only other appearance at Brisbane in 1982 and makes only its second Commonwealth appearance in Delhi.
England can justifiably claim to be joint top of the all-time Commonwealth Games medal table for archery, thanks to Mark Blenkarne’s victory in the men’s competition.
The 2010 Commonwealth Games take place in Delhi, India, from 3 to 14 October 2010. They will feature 17 sports - archery, aquatics (swimming, synchronised swimming & diving), athletics, badminton, boxing, cycling, gymnastics, hockey, lawn bowls, netball, rugby 7s, shooting, squash, table tennis, tennis, weightlifting and wrestling. With the 2012 Olympic Games in London and the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Commonwealth Games England is entering a breath-taking four years of sport.
Commonwealth Games England (GCE) is the organisation responsible for selecting and organising England's team at the Commonwealth Games. England finished second to Australia on the medal table at the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games with 36 golds, 40 silvers and 34 bronzes.
Sport England is responsible for building the foundations of sporting success, by creating a world-leading community sport system of clubs, coaches, facilities and volunteers. Their focus is growing and sustaining the numbers of people taking part in sport and improving talent development to help more people excel.
For further information about archery in England see the English Archery Federation website at http://.englisharcheryfederation.org/Home.htm
