Practice Underway at Lord’s as World’s Best Archers Prepare for Olympic Games

Archery will be the first event in London of these Olympic Games! The morning of Friday 27 July, day of the Opening Ceremony, the archers will shoot the Ranking Round. In the meantime, they have already begun settling in at the 11-block Olympic Village, and practicing at Lord’s Cricket Ground, with many of the world’s top archers getting a feel for the historic venue as well as London itself. The first practice arrow was shot at Lord’s early last Tuesday morning by Colombia’s Ana Maria RENDON, practicing with her teammate Daniel PINEDA. Beginning that day, teams from across the world began assembling at the new “Home of Archery” throughout the week, with archers from Great Britain, Spain, Mongolia, Egypt, Malaysia, Korea, Chinese Taipei, India and others taking to the field. By Sunday, the U.S. team had begun training at Lord’s as well; Canada’s Crispin DUENAS and Marie-Pier BEAUDET, as well as the Italian Team, had also reportedly arrived in London. Throughout last week, coaches offered careful guidance to their archers under varied weather conditions, including rain for the first few days of the week, and beginning Saturday, sunny skies with an intermittent breeze. “I think our team’s very prepared, we’ve done lots of simulations and lots of preparations,” explained Archery GB coach Lloyd BROWN. “We were in training last week, and everyone was in great shape and ready to go. We shot the test event here, so it’s kind of familiar grounds for us.” A conversation with one of Team India’s coaches, Purnima MAHATO echoed BROWN’s thoughts: “Our preparation is good, so let’s see what happens.” When asked about the excitement around 18-year-old team member Deepika KUMARI, she commented: “You know, it’s the Olympic Games, it’s a totally different type of event. Lord’s is very nice, we came here in 2007 for a training match, so we are excited.” There was plenty of positive feedback from archers and staff arriving at Lord’s, with kudos to the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) for efficient processing through secure areas, and lots of staff around to direct visitors and answer questions. “Everyone is so friendly and so polite and always asking how we’re doing,” commented Team USA’s Brady ELLISON. “The LOCOG staff looks at each person as an individual and it’s quite amazing. It makes the Olympic experience so much better.” Lord’s Cricket Ground, which is referred to as the “Home of Cricket,” is the game’s “spiritual headquarters,” according to the venue’s website. “Its owner, Marylebone Cricket Club, remains the guardian of both the laws and the Spirit of Cricket, and MCC sides (which play around 500 games a year) perform a key role in promoting cricket.” However, since beginning of July and until 3rd August, last day of the archery competition at the London 2012 Olympic Games, it has become the “Home of Archery”. Archers will continue informal training on beginning of this week, with “Familiarisation” on Wednesday, during which archers may access all of the fields to literally become familiar with the venue. Thursday will be official practice for all teams, and the competition opens with a 72 arrow ranking round on Friday. The first medal events of the Olympic Games – archery’s team medal events – will commence on Saturday and Sunday, and individual match play follows. World Archery is on location in London throughout the event, and will be providing updates and more via its Twitter feed (@worldarchery) and Facebook page. Moreover, we will open a brand new website for our complete coverage, competition schedules and more. Stay tune! World Archery Communication