UK Student Archery Association

Selection Shenzhanigans [26/Aug/10]

Since the tournament finished, it has become apparent that in fact, although George Harding did secure funding for the event, he chose not to attend for personal reasons. Glen Croft was then drafted in as a replacement. Since Croft had missed one of his shoots due to exams, Archery GB then agreed to fund him for this event. This would have the added benefit of restoring a full team of gent recurves.

It's altogether less of a conspiracy than implied in the original article, below. It has to be said, however, that the overall organisation and communication surrounding the event was significantly less than perfect. John Sullivan was apparently left out of several emails and the experienced Andy Callaway was de facto Team Manager on the trip. [Update 31st October]

It is now less than one calendar month until the start of the 8th World University Archery Championships, in Shenzhen. The tournament is taking place later in the calendar year than usual, from the 23rd to 26th September, which is, in some respects, quite fortunate because of the lengthy delays in announcing the squad.

Funding negotiations between BUCS and Archery GB evenutally led to a mere three archers with their names in ink, gents compounds Matt Arnold, Tapani Kalmaru and Phil Glover (of Nottingham Trent, UWI Cardiff and Loughborough respectively), along with TASS physio Gordon Turner. BUCS also announced that gent recurves Craig Bowley, George Harding and Andrew Callaway (Birmingham City, Nottingham and Bournemouth) had met the criteria for selection but would have to self-fund. Self-funding was defined as a personal contribution of £1,000. All this was announced on 12th August by BUCS Head of International Programmes Neil Rogers, who cited lack of financial support from Archery GB as the reason behind the small squad.

Since that announcement, it appears that Craig Bowley and Andrew Callaway have secured funding but George Harding has not. However, Archery GB have said they will provide funding for another archer, Glen Croft (Birmingham City) since he is part of the Archery GB's Olympic Development program. By funding Glen Croft (and not funding George Harding) Archery GB have certainly, albeit accidentally, interfered with team selection. John Sullivan has also confirmed that although he is the nominated Team Manager, lacking of funding from BUCS means he is also extremely unlikely to attend.

These preparations are hardly ideal with the tournament looming. The team is also completely devoid of women, which is regrettable in itself, but also completely rules out the mixed team event. Final confirmation of teams and exactly who will be getting on the plane will appear in the Internationals section - once the information exists.

In other international news, archery makes its return to the Commonwealth Games in Dehli, in 2010. Perhaps surprisingly, given some of the sports that feature, although this is the 19th Commonwealth Games, it is only the second appearance for archery, the only previous one in Brisbane in 1982. Recurve and compounds will compete and there are a significant number of recent graduates, particularly in the Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland teams. Archery will take place from 4th to 10th October.