British duo hit title target at Para Archery European Championships

Defending champions Steve Prowse and Jo Frith both retained their European Para Archery titles in Pilsen on the final day of action in the Czech Republic.

Prowse beat Italian Giovanni Vaccaro in the Visually Impaired ²⁄₃ Final while Frith got the better of compatriot Victoria Rumary to take the Women’s W1 Open (Rec/Comp).

Rumary took the silver whilst there was also a bronze medal for Great Britain’s Nicholas Thomas in the visually impaired ²⁄₃ classification as he beat fellow Brit Philip Tranter in the third/fourth play-off.

Prowse had beaten Thomas 6-0 to book his spot in the gold medal match but was made to work extremely hard for a 6-5 success over Vaccaro in the final.

Thomas though bounced back from Saturday’s disappointment to beat Tranter 6-5 in the bronze medal match in an incredible tight all-British tussle.

In the women’s recurve final, Frith scored 134 to take the gold medal match by just seven points from fellow Brit Rumary, who won silver, with Italian Asia Pellizzari completing the podium.

Elsewhere, John Nicholl narrowly missed out on a bronze medal after a 6-5 defeat to Andorra’s Jordi Casellas in the visually impaired 1 category.

Rio 2016 gold medallist Jessica Stretton was also unlucky not to finish on the podium as Yulia Alekseeva recorded a 142-139 success in the bronze medal match in the Compound Women Open.

In the men’s equivalent, John Stubbs – a gold medallist at the Beijing 2008 Games - was also beaten to bronze by Marcel Pavlik of Slovakia who claimed the medal with a 142-136 triumph.