BRONZED AUSSIES READY TO HEAD BACK INTO BATTLE

BRONZED AUSSIES READY TO HEAD BACK INTO BATTLE It seems almost cruel that Alec Potts, Ryan Tyack and Taylor Worth could not go out and celebrate fully their momentous team achievement in Australian archery on the weekend. After all, it’s not every day (in fact it’s never before) that Australia wins an Olympic medal in the team competition. But such is the professionalism of this young trio that, after doing the media rounds and posing for what seemed a gazillion photos, their thoughts turned to the individual events. It all kicks off again tonight, Australian time, with Alec Potts sure to have a big crowd against him when he takes on Brazil’s Bernardo Olivereira. Potts finished the ranking round 20th, while Oliveira was 45th. Worth (14) will front up against Egypt’s Ahmed El-Nemr (51), and then Tyack (23) takes on Belgium’s Robin Ramaekers. But while the focus is now on the individual competition, the enormity of the weekend’s efforts, as well as winning Australia’s first medal in Rio, has hit home. “It really means a lot for us to get the first medal for Australia, and take the lead and show everyone else that we can do it over here when we gave it our all,” Tyack said. “And to have the whole country behind us, it really means a lot.” Worth, the only member of the trio with previous Olympic experience, said the approach on the weekend was simple. “Our goal was to replicate what we did in training, and I feel that we did that today,” he said. “We just tried to do our normal shots, tried to execute them as best we could, because we knew if we did what we do in training, on the bigger stage, then we were in with a chance.” Potts, as the youngest and least experienced, was happy to let the emotion wash over him. “It’s never not going to be exciting I suppose,” Potts said. “It’s certainly a real milestone for us as a team. We’ve had some great scores in practice, and we’ve come a long way professionally in the last year. It’s surreal, it really is.”