4 August 2009

Nicky Hunt, the Be Number 1 compound archer, could scarcely have hit more sparkling form in the run-up to the crucial fourth and final leg of this year’s World Cup tournament, which officially gets underway in Shanghai tomorrow. A top-six finish there should be good enough to secure her qualification for next month’s Grand Final in Copenhagen.

And she should be full of confidence. After becoming, in May, the first British archer to claim victory in an individual World Cup event, Hunt has rounded off her preparation for China by becoming the first British woman to score 1,400 points in a FITA competition.

The full-time physiotherapist, who was competing in the Andover Double FITA Star tournament, scored exactly 1,400 points – 346 from 70 metres, 352 from 60, 344 from 50 and 358 from 30.

“I was thrilled to achieve the 1,400 score and the timing of it could scarcely have been better, given the proximity of the World Cup event in Shanghai,” said Hunt.

“To get 1,400 points is a special achievement for me, because so few people ever make it into the 1,400s. I am the first British woman to do it and the sixth Briton overall – after five men. As far as I am aware, I am only the ninth woman in the world to have achieved it. But it will count for very little if I perform poorly in China.”

The Ipswich archer lies in fifth place in the overall World Cup standings, just a point behind Jamie van Natta (the reigning Grand Final champion) in fourth spot and 11 behind Olga Bosch and Ivana Buden, the joint leaders. But with only the three best results over the four legs counting towards qualification, Hunt has an outstanding chance of gaining the overall top-four place that is necessary to qualify for the Grand Final. The Briton has participated in only two of the first three events whereas the four women ahead of her in the standings have participated in all three. (British compounders did not compete in the first event of the series, which was held in the Dominican Republic in April, because of a lack of funding).

Hunt added: “I reckon that a top-six finish in Shanghai should be good enough for me to qualify for Copenhagen, although it could depend on how other archers do. Still, I will be going all out to win the event and let my competitors squabble over which three other archers qualify for Denmark.”

Hunt - together with Simon Terry (who is odds-on to progress in the men’s recurve discipline), Larry Godfrey and Alison Williamson - is one of four British archers chasing a place in the Grand Final.

"It's going to be tense, it's going to be exciting, and Simon, Alison, Larry and Nicky have everything to play for," said Archery GB performance director Sara Symington. "To have one of our archers qualify would be a great boost. To have two, or dare I say more, would be an outstanding achievement."