Milne Is Out For Revenge

Para-archer Jonathon Milne will seek to avenge his loss to USA’s Andrew Shelby when he heads into his match play round tomorrow (28 August). Shelby triumphed over Milne, 35, in the semi-finals at the 2016 Rio Games, before going on to take home the gold and leaving Milne with the bronze. Milne said he is looking forward to the grudge match which he says looms as a ‘showdown’.

“After how I shot today and looking at where I am placed, I think I will do well. I know I left a lot of points out there, I got a 700 in yesterday’s training so I know I can do it,” said Milne.

Considered one of Australia’s most successful Para-archers Milne placed eighth in the Open Men’s Compound with a score of 692 in the ranking round.

“All we can do is follow the processes we train for and sometimes it’s enough, sometimes it’s not,” said Milne.

Milne created history in Rio by defeating the top-seed in the quarter-final before shooting a 10 with his final arrow, marking Australia’s first Para-archery medal since the New York 1984 Paralympics.

“I need to do the same thing I did in Rio, I have to shoot 15 good hours and if I can go in there and shoot the 15 good hours and not do anything stupid, then I’ll be fine,” said Milne.

Milne, who has been shooting 700 level scores consistently before leaving for Tokyo, believes he is much better prepared than he was going into Rio.

“I am more consistent, my training has been going well, I’m confident I can do well,” he said.

Buy your green and gold virtual seat and support our Paralympians

The seasoned campaigner said the weather did present some challenges during the ranking round.

“It was a bit little tricky with the wind out there, I thought I made the right adjustment for it but in the end I gave up trying to pick the wind and just aimed for the middle,” Milne explained.

“There are a lot of guys out there I thought would have ranked higher than me after sort of knowing where my scores are at, and they’re well below me so a lot of people struggled today.”

Paralympic first-timer Imalia Oktrininda, 41, finished 13th with a score of 564 in the ranking round and said she was happy enough with placing in the middle of the pack.

“The first 36 arrows were really good, I found the second 36 a bit challenging, but overall I really enjoyed the competition,” said Oktrininda.

The Women’s Open Recurve Class W2 athlete who will go up against Moon Jang Jo from Korea in her match play round said she has come in without expectations and is just grateful to be in Tokyo.

“I’m just going to try to enjoy myself, I don’t have a lot of international experience, this is only my second international competition and being one of the 24 who made the recurve open is already an amazing achievement,” said Oktrininda.

The relative newcomer already has her eyes on the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games and plans to use Tokyo to help her preparations.

“I’ll use this experience to learn what this level of competition looks like,” she added.

Taymon Kenton-Smith, 26, who put on the Paralympic green and gold for the first time, ranked 18th in the Open Men’s Recurve Standing Class with a score of 604 while teammate Peter Marchant, 60, placed 31st in the Open Men’s Compound Class W2 with a score of 664.

Marchant is up against France’s Eric Pereira in tomorrow’s match play round while Kenton-Smith will face Eric Bennett from Team USA.

Watch the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games live and free on Seven and 7plus from August 24 – September 5.

Australians in action at Yumenoshima Park:

Saturday 28 August
09:34 (10:34 AEST) – Peter Marchant, Men’s Individual Compound – Open 1/16 Elimination
14:04 (15:04 AEST) – Jonathon Milne, Men’s Individual Compound – Open 1/16 Elimination

Tuesday 31 August
*09:00 (10:00 AEST) – Jonathon Milne and Peter Marchant, Men’s Individual Compound, Open 1/8 Elimination, Open Quarter-final, Semi-final and Medal Match

Thursday 2 September
10:15 (11:15 AEST) – Imalia Oktrininda, Women’s Individual Recurve – Open 1/16 Elimination

Friday 3 September
12:25 (13:25 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 Team Recurve – Open 1/8 Elimination

*Pending qualification results

By: Amanda Scott, Paralympics Australia
Posted: 27 August 2021