Tokyo Olympics Australia Archery loses to Taiwan in thriller

Heartbreak for Australia’s archery team as they lose thrilling shoot off to Taiwan – meaning the team won’t win back-to-back Olympic medals

  •  Olympic archery team loses bid to go back-to-back in the archery 
  •  Team lost thrilling shoot off with world no. 2, Taiwan 

Australia’s quest for consecutive Olympic archery medals in the men’s team event has ended, but only after a thrilling shoot-off against world No.2 Taiwan.

Taylor Worth and Ryan Tyack were backing up after winning bronze in Rio, joined in the three-man Australian team by 2004 Olympian David Barnes.

The contest on Monday morning was neck and neck, with Australia winning the first and third sets, and Taiwan the second and fourth to take it to a shoot-off, which the Australians lost by a solitary point for a 4-5 overall result.

Australia got off to a strong start, easily winning the first set at Yumenoshima Park 53-48, with Taiwan looking shaky despite their superior ranking.

Deng Yu-Cheng of Taiwan, Tang Chih-Chun of Taiwan and Wei Chun-Heng of Taiwan during competition with Taylor Worth of Australia, David Barnes of Australia and Ryan Tyack of Australia look on (above) 

But their rivals settled to take the second set 55-53 and level.

Australia were boosted in the third set when two arrows were reviewed and elevated from nines to 10, giving them the win.

Taiwan then delivered their best performance of the day in the fourth set to push the match to a shoot-off, reeling off five consecutive 10s for a stunning 58-52 scoreline.

Tyack opened the decider with a costly eight, with Barnes adding 10, however Worth also needed a 10 with the final arrow to match with Taiwanese.

He only managed a nine, with Australia falling 28-27 and Taiwan moving into the quarter-finals.

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