Archers find going tough in Tokyo

INDIVIDUAL COMPOUND ARCHERS FIND GOING TOUGH IN TOKYO

John Stubbs and Nathan Macqueen lose out in tight matches 

Extreme heat and variable winds prove tough

Image Credit: ParalympicsGB

28 August 2021: The Men’s Individual Compound Open for the ParalympicsGB Archery squad took place at the Yumenoshima Park Archery Field earlier today in searing 31 degree heat and changeable winds that made conditions extremely challenging.

Both John Stubbs and Nathan Macqueen (pictured above) lost in close fought matches scoring 138 against the 14th and 11th seeds respectively. Stubbs took his opponent to a shoot out where both competitors shot 9s but the ParalympicsGB athlete lost out by just 3mm to Marian Marecak from Slovakia.

Macqueen now moves on to partner Jess Stretton in the Mixed Team Compound Open on Sunday where they are hopeful of a strong performance.

On today’s outcome, Neil Armitage, CEO of Archery GB said, “The results today are disappointing for both John and Nathan but sport can be cruel, especially at the elite level where winning margins are very small. We are looking forward to seeing Jess and Nathan put in a strong team performance tomorrow.”

Tom Duggan, Performance Director, said: “Obviously John and Nathan will both be disappointed not to be progressing to the next round. Conditions were challenging with both the heat and changes in wind.

We’ve still got lots of opportunities – Phoebe’s (Paterson Pine) on the back of a really solid performance yesterday and we always want to be competitive in the Compound Open Mixed team so we’ll give it our best shot tomorrow.”

Brief background on Paralympic archers:

• John Stubbs MBE, a veteran of three previous Paralympics – winning gold in Beijing and silver in Rio
• Nathan Macqueen, who played rugby for Glasgow Warriors at under 21 level before a motorbike accident forced him to turn to archery to quell his competitive nature – this is his second Paralympics

Full bios:

Nathan Macqueen (Compound Men Open): Nathan is an all-round sportsman who played rugby for Glasgow Warriors at under 21 level. He is a wheelchair user following a motorbike accident where he almost lost his life. Before his accident he was part of Scotland’s archery team. After he was injured, he took up power lifting and wheelchair basketball but following a shoulder injury he went full circle and switched back to his first sport of archery. He is from Dumfries and took part in the Paralympics in Rio making Tokyo his second games. He has medalled in archery competitions at European and World level.

John Stubbs (Compound Men Open): John won gold at the Beijing Paralympic Games and silver in the mixed team open compound in the Rio Paralympic Games. He lives in Wales now but is originally from Warrington. He lost his leg in a motorbike accident. He tried archery as a way to take his mind off things and went on to become a Paralympic double medallist. He has won numerous World Archery Para Championships and was awarded an MBE for services to Disabled sport in 2005.