World No 6 Shaun Teasdale turned on a fine display of shooting but was edged out of a medal in the Commonwealth Games mens individual compound archery competition today.
The 21-year-old Teasdale, having qualified in sixth place with a score of 699, worked his way through the draw in impressive fashion, shrugging off a pesky cross-breeze and the steamy conditions.
In his first round, he beat Abul Mamun of Bangladesh 4-0. He meted out the same treatment in the second round to Canadian Michiel Schleppe.
With the tension mounting in the quarter-finals, Teasdale was rock solid, taking three straight sets against Namibian Johannes Grobler for a 6-0 win.
The New Zealander was eliminated in the semi-finals by high-flying Englishman Duncan Busby, losing 6-2.
Busby edged the first two sets 29-28, but the New Zealander fought back superbly in the third, peeling off three straight 10s to win the set 30-27. In the fourth set, Busby was too steady and won 29-28.
With only a couple of minutes rest, Teasdale was back on the range in the bronze medal shoot-off against Seppie Cilliers of South Africa.
This was an extremely tight contest. The first two splits were both split 29-29. The South African edged ahead by taking the third set 29-28. The fourth set was split 29-29 and Teasdale, having to win the fifth and final set to keep his chances alive, went down 29-28.
Teasdale said he was gutted to finish out of the medals.
Someone has to be fourth, but unfortunately, that person was me, he said.
He was pleased with how he shot and how he handled the conditions, which he called drifty, but not with the result.
Though he went into the competition as the highest-ranked archer, he said the field was very even and that a number of men could have won it. With archery it really comes down to the day with the top guys. Its how you handle the conditions on the day.
Teasdale is now contemplating his future in archery. Ive spent 2 years building towards this. I really wanted a medal. Now I need to decide what Im going to do.
If I get some funding I might go overseas for a few international events. Or I might have to think about getting a job.
There were two other New Zealanders involved in the individual compound event.
Aucklander Stephen Clifton, who qualified third among the 48 competitors with a score of 702, had a comfortable 4-0 victory over Jonathan Snell of Norfolk Island. However, he then came unstuck against Grobler, losing 4-2 in a tight contest.
Southlander Anthony Waddick, whose qualifying score was 694, did well to progress past local favourite Chinna Srither of India 4-3, but then went down 4-0 to Busby.
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