Queen Elizabeth II High school teacher Lesley Sleight shot well at her first ever World Championships. Great Britain fielded nine archers and Lesley was one of the only two lady longbow archers to achieve Great Britain selection scores. The world Championships take place every two years with over 250 archers competing from 25 countries.
There were two qualification rounds which consisted of shooting two arrows at each of the 24 3D targets. After the first qualification day Lesley found herself in a strong 5th position. After the second qualification day Lesley was ranked 7th and British longbow team mate Emily Williams ranked 13th. They were the only two British Archers to make it through to the last 16 competitors for the elimination round.
The elimination round consisted of shooting 1 arrow at 12 targets. Lesley found herself in the lead group but was unable to maintain her form and finished the competition ranked 13th. Emily came within a single point of reaching the quarter finals finishing in 9thplace.
Lesley said “It was an amazing experience and we were treated like VIP’s by the people of Terni. This included police escorts for the prison buses used to transport us to the venues. Achieving 13th place in a World Championship and a Bronze medal in the IFAA European Field Championship has given me the impetus to strive even harder. I would love to be selected again for the GB squad for the European Championships in Slovenia 2016”
