England’s Nichola Simpson today (Friday) added an individual bronze medal to the team gold she won yesterday at the Commonwealth Games Archery Test Event in Delhi.
 
It means England ended their campaign with a haul of two gold medals and two bronzes from the competition.
 
Simpson joined forces with Andrea Gales and Nicky Hunt to win the women’s compound team gold yesterday.
 
She returned to the Yamuna Sports Complex, one of the archery venues for the 2010 Commonwealth Games, to capture bronze in the individual compound today.
 
Simpson went down to India’s Gagandeep Kaur in today’s semi-final, but then went on to beat Scotland’s Tracey McGowan in the battle for bronze. McGowan had already despatched England’s Nicky Hunt at the quarter-final stage.
 
Oxford archer Simpson said: “I was a bit disappointed with the semi-final. I was a bit nervous for it, which is unusual for me.
 
“I was really pleased to turn it around to win the bronze medal. I redeemed myself a bit by shooting that much better.”
 
She said she has enjoyed competing in India and doing so would give her an advantage if selected to compete at the Commonwealth Games in October.
 
“It’s been fantastic,” she said. “I’ve really enjoyed it, everything about it has been great. I’m really pleased to have had the opportunity to come here.
 
“It’s given us a really good insight of what to expect in October. I think it will give us an advantage.”

Simpson took the bronze medal contest 28-28, 28-27, 29-26 and 28-28.
 
Her individual bronze follows the women’s team compound gold won by her with Gales and Hunt and the men’s team compound gold won by James Bingham, James Forbes and Mark Franklyn. Rob Hallworth, Jon Shales and Lee Williams won bronze in the men’s team recurve.
 
Around 100 archers from 10 nations have been in action at the test event, which is at the Yamuna Sports Complex, one of the archery venues for the Delhi Commonwealth Games.
 
Archery features on the Commonwealth Games programme for only the second time in Delhi, after making its only other appearance at Brisbane in 1982 and makes only its second Commonwealth appearance in Delhi.
 
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>