ARCHERY ACT
WORLD ARCHERY OCEANIA CHAMPIONSHIPS 2018
Jason arrived in Noumea, New Caledonia on Saturday 7th July. After a rest day on Sunday, the official practice and Opening Ceremony was held on a fine and sunny Monday. The 1440 round was held on Tuesday, raining and windy, where Jason encountered equipment issues. The sight mounting block on his bow had come loose and despite repeatedly tightening it, he could not keep it in the same place. He was shooting well but his scores did not reflect this and after the first 2 distances he was sitting fifth. Consequently, several parents were able to assist during the break to applying thread tape to the screws and he was able to make up 43 points in the final distance to finish with the bronze medal. The fourth distance was not completed due to time constraints.
The 720 rounds were held on Wednesday morning, another windy and wet day. Jason ranked first and was shooting well. Matchplay started in the afternoon. After a nervous start and a bow mix up, Jason won all matches held on this day. Semi-finals and finals were held on Thursday with Jason moving into the Gold Medal Match against Finn of New Zealand. He won the final to bring home the Gold Medal.
The Continental Qualification Tournament was held on Friday. A clarification of rules meant there was no qualification round, the rankings were decided on the results of the 720 held on Wednesday. Therefore, Jason ranked first, with the other 2 Australians ranked third and fourth. With only six in the tournament Jason had a bye in the first round and all Australians moved into the finals. Jason made the Gold medal match by defeating fellow Australian Zac Tonizzo. The other semi-final was won by Finn Matheson(NZ) over Eddy Upston(AUS). Eddy defeated Zac in their match. The final was a repeat of the previous day with Jason defeating Finn to earn Australia a quota place in the Youth Olympic Games!