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In one of the highest scored matches of the day, Jonathon Milne’s Paralympic campaign came to an end after USA’s Andre Shelby took victory over Milne 143-141 in the Open Men’s Compound 1/16 Elimination Round Class W2.
After a poor performance in the ranking round Shelby staged an impressive come back over Milne.
The two were neck and neck in the first and second ends and it wasn’t until the final arrow of the third end when the defending gold medallist showed his prominence on the scoreboard.
It’s not the first time Jonathon Milne has been crushed by the rival. Shelby triumphed over Milne, leaving him with a bronze at the 2016 Rio Games.
It wasn’t the day Milne had planned.
“I shot a few arrows that didn’t make sense, I wasn’t sure if it was the heat, I did everything I needed to do leading up, trained every day but some days they go in and some days they don’t, and today was that day,” Milne said.
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Milne said the calibre of shooting has lifted a lot since Rio so there are still a bunch of shooters left that may not have ranked as high as they normally would but they can definitely shoot the scores to win.
Teammate Peter Marchant got off to a strong start in his match play round, taking revenge on France’s Eric Pereira 138-136 who knocked him out of the 2019 World Championships in the Netherlands in a one arrow shoot off.
It was a battle of the ages for Marchant and Pereira who are both the oldest members of their nation’s contingents at 60.
“It was good to beat Eric this time round,” said Marchant.
Marchant then progressed to the 1/16 Elimination Round against Iran’s Ramezan Biabani, however, Biabani proved too strong for Marchant, taking the match 141-139.
“This is the biggest competition I have ever been part of, so it’s been a good learning experience for me,” said Marchant.
Lining up next for Australia in the para-archery on Thursday 2 September is Imalia Oktrininda who will make her Paralympic match play debut against Moon Jang Jo, from the Republic of Korea in the Women’s Open Recurve Class W2.
Jang Jo, 54 who is back for her second Paralympics after finishing 9th in the 2016 Rio Games will no doubt be a challenge for the relative newcomer.
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The ranking round wasn’t kind to Taymon Kenton-Smith who will have his work cut out for him against three-time para-archer Eric Bennett from USA in the Men’s Individual Recurve, Standing Class.
Bennett, who placed 8th at the 2016 Rio Games and 2nd at the World Championships in 2019, will no doubt have a podium finish in his sights and will prove difficult to defeat.
When asked how he was feeling about the match Kenton-Smith said he was very tense.
“I am pretty certain we’re going to have a new world record shot by the way some of the other artists are shooting, but I feel I will be a fierce contender,” said Kenton-Smith.
“Getting to the Games is winning for me, everything else is just icing on the cake, and I feel like I’m going to get a lot of icing,” said Kenton-Smith.
“It’s very hot here, so looking after the body is the most important thing over the next few days.”
Watch the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games live and free on Seven and 7plus from August 24 – September 5.
Aussie’s next up in Archery at Yumenoshima Park Archery Field:
Thursday 2 September
10:15 (11:15 AEST) – Imalia Oktrininda, Women’s Individual Recurve – Open 1/16 Elimination
Friday 3 September
12:45 (13:45 AEST) – Taymon Kenton-Smith, Men’s Individual Recurve – Open 1/16 Elimination
Saturday 4 September
10:00 (11:00 AEST) – Imalia Oktrininda and Taymon Kenton-Smith, Recurve Mixed Mixed Team Recurve – Open 1/8 Elimination
By: Amanda Scott, Paralympics Australia
Posted: 28 August 2021
