ARCHERS BOOK THREE TICKETS FOR RIO

The Australian men’s archery team has qualified for next year’s Rio Olympics, beating Brazil to clinch their top eight position at the 2015 World Championships. The Australian men’s archery team has qualified for next year’s Rio Olympics, beating Brazil to clinch their top eight position at the 2015 World Championships.  The result guarantees Australia three men’s places in the individual as well as the team event in Rio.  2012 Olympian, Taylor Worth, world indoor champion, Ryan Tyack, and world championship debutant, Alec Potts, opened the world championships in strong form, qualifying fifth for today’s elimination round.  Brazil, already guaranteed a place as the host nation next year, qualified 12th, but after a close early tussle found the Australians too consistent.  Worth said to have a chance to go to his second Olympics, this time as a member of a men’s team, is a dream come true.  “It’s a huge weight off our shoulders, that we have team spots this time,” Worth said.  “I’m really looking forward to the chance of competing with my friends this time, rather than going it alone like I did in London.  “We didn’t talk much last night or this morning about today’s match up. The best way we found to prepare for matches is to talk about nonsense, just relax and chill out.”  Despite the enormity of the result, Tyack said the trio wasn’t getting too carried away and still had a job to do in Copenhagen.  “I know there’s Olympic spots on the line, but realistically we’re here for the World Championships, we’re here to win that, and that’s what our focus is,” he said.  “It is good to know we’ve done what we have to do and don’t have to stress about qualifying. It obviously means a lot, but it’s just not the main focus for us here.”  The least experienced of the trio, Alec Potts, said he wasn’t too nervous during the contest.  “I felt nervous in the practice, but last night I had the best night’s sleep,” Potts said.  “It went back and forth for the first couple of ends, but I think we took a couple of ends to get into the swing of things.  “But you could see once we got into it and showed our real potential. We put in a couple of good ends.”  The three Australians will compete in the individual events later this week.