MandyMcGregor.co.nz

10, Mar, 2010

We had to actually get up early as we were shooting in the morning. Weather was good, the wind was there as usual and the dust, and we had plently of time to practise before we kicked off at 11am. Practise wasnt so great, it seemed that every end the arrows would be in a different place, and I struggled with consistency. I was looking forward to getting the match underway, I cant say I was 100% confident of winning it, but I knew I had every chance of getting thru the first round. For me thats always the most nervous one, and today was just the same. Consciously/logically I kept saying its just like any other shoot, no pressure, I've shot this distance thousands of times before, and I just have to hit the gold. How hard is that?

Apparently quite difficult. I was so nervous this time, and I couldnt get into a rhythm. In matchplay you have sets, basically whomever wins one end of six arrows gets 2 points, 1 point for a draw, 0 for loss.  I won the first set, so was 2-0 up. The second set, I fell apart a bit and Elaine from Scotland (my competitor) beat me by just a few points. So, it came down to a 3rd and final set, and I couldnt hold it together, she beat me again but a bit more resoundingly.  I think I lost a bit of confidence, and I couldnt get it back in time. I was disappointed because you always want to just get that first round over and done with and do it well, and lately I have been going ok on those, but this time it wasnt to be.    Barb and Anne also got knocked out in the first round, and Steph made it thru to the next, only being taken out after a one-arrow shoot off at the end of 3 matches, so she did great.

We had to wait until 4pm to go up against the Malaysian team in the teams elimination. We were the only match in the compound women, and started 3 points down, coming back to draw after the next end. 3rd end we had a bit of a downer one, and fourth a good one, but we couldnt pull it back, and they beat us to the semis b just 2 points. It could have gone either way.  The wind was a challenge, as was the rest of the conditions, and overall I think just consistency was the problem.  So we came back to the hotel pretty blue, but with yet another experience behind us that we can learn from.