World's finest head to Telford for archery extravaganza
The biggest and busiest archery event ever held in the UK takes place this weekend at the International Centre in Telford.
Just under a thousand archers, from over 30 countries, including the UK, will be turning up to take part in the European Archery Festival.
The event is also the third, and penultimate, leg of the World Archery Indoor World Cup, with two British archers in strong contention for the top prize. And around the competitions, the event is also hosting the largest archery trade show outside the USA.
"It's a massive event, it's been an enormous challenge, and now it's almost here it's incredibly exciting," said competition manager Jon Nott.
"It's incredibly prestigious for British archery that we are hosting such a big event, but after the success of the Olympic and Paralympic tournaments at London in 2012, and the World Cup Grand Final in Edinburgh four years ago, we have established a reputation we are proud to continue.
"We have many of the world's top ranked archers coming to Telford from four continents: Europe, America, Asia and Africa; and the competition is going to be intense and fascinating."
Edinburgh's Naomi Jones, and Naomi Folkard from Kidderminster, are the two GB archers in the hunt for Indoor World Cup glory - so have plenty of incentive to shine in Telford.
Folkard, a three time Olympian, won the women's gold medal at the first leg in Marrakesh in November, and is joint leader in the overall standings at the halfway stage of the competition with South Korean Sung Eun Jeon, the gold medalist in Singapore who will be taking part in Telford. The women's recurve event promises to be a real thriller, with so much to play for.
But the same applies to the men's recurve, and the men's and women's compound - where Naomi Jones will also be looking for another medal winning performance in this season's Indoor World Cup tournament.
Jones took the bronze medal in Marrakesh, and currently lies in fifth place in the women's compound overall standings after two rounds of four. Like Folkard, a good performance in Telford, will put her right in contention for the top prize, ahead of the final round, in Las Vegas on February 7-8.
Other leading international archers include former world champions and World Cup winners, including Erika Jones, World Archery's Female Athlete of the Year in 2013, and fellow Americans Reo Wilde, Braden Gellenthien and Brady Ellison; Albina Loginova of Russia, Frenchman Jean Charles Valadont, and Rick van der Ven of The Netherlands, who was fourth at the 2012 Olympics.
