England’s archers earned two byes in the knockout stages of the team competitions at the Commonwealth Games Test Event in Delhi.
 
The 2010 Commonwealth Games will be only the second Commonwealths to feature the sport of archery and England has a 12-stong team of archers in Delhi for the test event, which got underway today (Tuesday).
 
The England women’s compound team of Andrea Gales, Nicky Hunt and Nichola Simpson topped the ratings in the ranking round today with a score of 2004 to earn a bye in the quarter-finals. They now face the winners of the Malaysia v New Zealand quarter-final in the semis on Thursday (11th March).
 
Hunt, who finished fourth in last year’s World Cup Final, also topped the individual rankings with a score of  681 – 10 more than Simpson in second.  Gales was 13th with 652. Hunt and Simpson both earned byes to the individual round of 16.
 
The compound men’s team of James Bingham, James Forbes and Mark Franklyn also earned a bye after shooting the third highest score in their ranking round. They now face the host nation in the semis on Thursday after scoring 2022 in the ranking round.
 
Bingham was the highest placed of England’s men in the individual competition – his 678 put him fifth in the rankings. Forbes hit 677 for seventh while Franklin’s 667 put him 14th. Bingham and Forbes both get byes.
 
The England women’s recurve team of Abi Clayton, Louise Colville and Estelle Edwick were fourth in their ranking round with a score of 1704 and face Singapore in Wednesday’s quarter-final. Edwick was 13th in the individuals with 591, with Colville 17th with 571 and Clayton 22nd with 542.
 
The men’s recurve team of Rob Hallworth, Jon Shales and Lee Williams were fourth in the ranking round with 1844 and now face Wales. Shales’ 634 made him the highest placed England archer in the men’s individual recurve rankings in 12th, while Hallworth’s 611 put him 16th and Williams’ 599 put him 18th.
 
The team event semi-finals, bronze medal matches and finals take place on Thursday with individual semis, bronze medal matches and finals on Friday.
 
Around 100 archers from 10 nations are taking part in the test event which is at the Yamuna Sports Complex, one of the archery venues for the Delhi Commonwealth Games.
 
Archery made its only other appearance on the Commonwealth Games programme at Brisbane in 1982. England can justifiably claim to be joint top of the all-time Commonwealth Games medal table for archery, thanks to Mark Blenkarne’s victory in the men’s competition.
 
The 2010 Commonwealth Games take place in Delhi, India, from 3 to 14 October 2010. They will feature 17 sports - archery, aquatics (swimming, synchronised swimming & diving), athletics, badminton, boxing, cycling, gymnastics, hockey, lawn bowls, netball, rugby 7s, shooting, squash, table tennis, tennis, weightlifting and wrestling. With the 2012 Olympic Games in London and the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Commonwealth Games England is entering a breath-taking four years of sport.

Commonwealth Games England (GCE) is the organisation responsible for selecting and organising England's team at the Commonwealth Games.
England finished second to Australia on the medal table at the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games with 36 golds, 40 silvers and 34 bronzes.

Sport England is responsible for building the foundations of sporting success, by creating a world-leading community sport system of clubs, coaches, facilities and volunteers. Their focus is growing and sustaining the numbers of people taking part in sport and improving talent development to help more people excel.
 
For further information about archery in England please go to the English Archery Federation website at www.englisharcheryfederation.org

For further information about Commonwealth Games England please contact the Commonwealth Games England press office at Matchtight Ltd on 07765 071683 or 07831 755351 or see the CGE’s website at www.weareengland.org <http://www.weareengland.org>