Naomi Folkard set sights on a shot at gold

The 37-year-old, competing at her fifth Games, will join Bryony Pitman and Sarah Bettles on the quest for a medal.

They will take on Italy in the first round after qualifying ninth in yesterday morning’s ranking rounds, which took place prior to Tokyo 2020’s opening ceremony.

Folkard has described the team event as her biggest ambition at these Games, having claimed world championship bronze alongside Pitman and Bettles two years ago. The trio are also the reigning European team champions.

After tomorrow, Folkard will compete in the women’s individual event, taking on China’s Jiaxin Wu in Wednesday’s first round after shooting 629 yesterday to qualify 47th.

Team GB’s first shot at a first archery medal since 2004 came this morning when Bettles and Patrick Huston, their top ranked duo from yesterday, competed in the mixed team event.

Director for Archery David Tillotson said: “Ranking rounds at the Olympic Games are notoriously challenging and whilst indicative as to shooting abilities and it is reassuring to score well, its key purpose is to determine seedings.

“The event now moves quickly on to head-to-head matches on the finals arena where every match is sudden-death.

“The margins between winning and losing will be small, possibly tiny, and we need to manage ourselves to be on the higher side of the line more often than not.

“We have talented athletes who have prepared well. We have an excellent track record for navigating a competition and making the podium.

“As competitions proceed over the course of next week we are keen and ready to match ourselves against the world-best. We are all looking forward to demonstrating our competitiveness across the three formats of individual, mixed and team.”