After archers shoot to local fame
TWO Sydney Olympic Park Archers (SOPA) have shot to success at the recent Indoor World Series held in Sydney earlier this month.
Melissa Spinocchia picked up a bronze medal in the women’s recurve event, putting her a step closer to her goal of representing Australia at this year’s Olympics, while Jonathon Milne placed first in the men’s parra compound event and seventh in the open event.
Held from January 10-12, it was the first indoor circuit tournament to take place in the Southern Hemisphere, the fourth event of the 2020 Indoor Archery World Series and Sydney’s first major international archery event since the 2000 Olympic Games.
Milne, who won bronze in the 2016 Paralympics, has already qualified for this year’s Paralympic Games in Tokyo and also has his sights set on breaking some world records.
The 33-year-old set a new Australian record of 590/600 at the indoor event but narrowly missed out on the world record of 594.
“I shot 595 in practice and I normally shoot personal bests in competition and not in training so I was a little disappointed,” he said.
“It’s a goal of mine to get all three parra world records.”
He already has the 1,440 world record under his belt, shooting 1,394 at the Australian Nationals held in Victoria in November.
Frustratingly, he has also broken the 57/20 record of 72 arrows at 50 metres unofficially three times but says unless it’s a World Archery registered event, it only counts as a parra record not a world record.
“I’m seriously considering paying the $50 to register the next event myself,” he added with a laugh.
