THERE is a loneliness to standing 70 metres from an archery target, particularly when you do not have complete confidence in your equipment.

For Telford archer Patrick Huston, that lack of trust was a barrier that he could not clear as he fell to defeat in the round of 64 for the men’s individual.

Despite qualifying in 25th spot, Huston was well beaten by Brazil’s Marcus D’Almeida, 7-1, as he saw his Olympic dreams ended.

And the 25-year-old admitted that falling well short of his best while on the biggest stage would be a bitter pill to swallow.

He said: “I’m pretty seriously unhappy with the way I’ve performed there. It was an underperformance.

"I’ve had some equipment issues in the past. Not being able to trust the kit to perform and be able to come in with a bank of consistent groupings over an extended period of time does detract slightly.

“Sometimes it just doesn’t happen. When it’s at the biggest stage there is, that’s not the most enjoyable.”

The soaring temperatures in Tokyo have been particularly brutal on the archers, with Russia’s Svetlana Gomboeva having collapsed on day one.

Adapting has not been easy for the GB archers, but Huston was frustrated at the way he struggled to cope with the strong winds, a side effect of the tropical storm that has led to the rowing schedule being rearranged here.

He added: “It’s been very hot this week, I’ve definitely struggled a bit in these conditions. It would have been nice to have the opportunity over the past couple of years to do more hot-weather conditioning.

“It was very windy today. Normally I’m pretty strong in the wind, the arrows just didn’t land in the middle.”

Fellow Telford archer Sarah Bettles could not avenge the loss of teammate Naomi Folkard when she took on China’s Wu Jiaxin.

Bettles had qualified for the 1/16 eliminations of the women’s individual with a 6-4 win over Valentina Acosta Giraldo of Colombia.

But Wu followed up a 6-2 win over Folkard with the same result against Bettles.

Despite that, the 28-year-old, appearing in her first Olympics, was happy with the way she had picked up her form after a disappointing showing in the women’s team event.

She said: “I feel I redeemed myself a little bit after the way I was shooting in some of the team round.

“I still had some good shots in that, I’m just happy that I was able to pull it back a little bit more in the individual. I was really happy with my first match, and although I lost the second match, I’m still really happy with how I shot with that.

“It’s been an incredible experience. I’ve got nothing to compare it to, it’s still been incredible even without friends and family able to be here, or spectators.

“The whole experience has just been amazing. Everything in the Village is about making it as good an experience as it can be, that feels relatively similar alongside all the protocols.

“It’s been an amazing Games for me.”

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