Archery: Nerves put Ebden off target

An equipment mistake frayed New Zealand archer Peter Ebden's nerves before he unleashed an arrow in his Olympic Games sudden-death match yesterday.

Ebden, aged 18, stood no chance against the in-form Russian Baljinima Tsyrempilov, losing 147-168, but he could have done without a mistake that had him drop three points on his first shot.

A nervous Ebden placed his sighting tripod in the wrong place before the 18-arrow matchplay shoot. He was preparing to fire when a judge pointed out his error. He put down his bow, moved the tripod, then picked up his No 2 bow.

He realised his mistake, swapping bows back, but was so rattled by time ticking away that he fired a seven (out of 10) that had him on the back foot from the start.

Olympic nerves caused the mix-up, archery manager Bill Skews said.

"That's what nerves do. He tried to pull back from that, he fired some very good shots, and he had a very credible score, but he didn't quite pull it off."

It was a day of fallen archers for New Zealand, with both failing to make the final 32. Ebden finished 58th, with Ken Uprichard 48th.

Uprichard rose from his sick bed to lose to Briton Simon Needham, who was regarded as beatable. Uprichard lost 155-160 after being on flu medication for three days. He spent Sunday sick in bed.

Becoming ill was a blow to the 20-year-old, who took a month off work before the Games to concentrate on training.

"The cold came at the wrong time," he said. "It bungs your head up. You can't concentrate. I definitely would have had him."

Skews said he was proud of how well both shot.

"They can now look forward to [the Athens Olympics] in 2004. I'm sure both of them will be there and doing better."

- NZPA