On Sunday the Senior Indoor National Archery Championships were held at Telford and the Island was represented by three of our female compound archers. The George sisters, Aalin and Kirsten competed in the Senior ranks following on from their success in the Junior Championships on Saturday. They qualified in 11th and 17th places respectively and went through to the Head to Head knockout stages. Kirsten unfortunately went out in the 1/16th round (although this is an amazing achievement for a 14 year old). Aalin however progressed through the rounds only to go out on a single arrow shoot-off in the quarter-final stage to Andrea Gales who is one of the top compound archers in the UK. Our third archer competing in the Championships was Sarah Rigby. Sarah has only recently returned to full-time competition following her recovery from a shoulder injury incurred at the Island Games in July. She had a lot to live up to because she took the bronze medal at this competition last year. Sarah had a lower than usual qualification round and was only seeded 20th going into the Head to Head rounds. However she stepped up a gear and progressed through the 1/8ths round where she won her match with a one-arrow shoot off. She then won her quarter-final match with ease scoring 6-2 over her opponent. This put her into the semi-finals where she came up against one of the UK’s top compound archers and former World Champion, Nicola Simpson. Sarah came from behind to level this match but eventually won through again with a one-arrow shoot off, putting in a 10 against her opponents 9. She went into the National final against Naomi Jones and fought hard under enormous pressure, but unfortunately just lost out to Naomi in the fourth set. So she comes home with the Silver Medal, one better than last year but yet again puts the Manx archers in the forefront of archery in the UK. Congratulations from all members of the Isle of Man Archery Club to all three girls. ENDS