BEECHINGSTOKE’S Mark Rudd is concentrating on the positives as his Archery World Cup campaign continues.

The 48-year-old, a member of Devizes Bowmen, is competing in a World Cup series for the first time and was ranked 75th out of 96 men’s compound archers after the first qualifying round of stage three in Antalya, Turkey, last month.

Rudd, who also competed in the first World Cup stage in Shanghai in April, was then matched up with Mexico’s Gerardo Alvadaro in the first head-to-head round but the Great Britain international was beaten 141-137.

The Wiltshire archer also represented his country in the team event but the Brits were beaten 232-229 by eventual champions the Netherlands.

“Turkey went well, all things considered. The weather was consistently hot – at about 35 or 36 degrees – and we shot our qualifying 50m round in these conditions,” said Rudd.

“I finished about a quarter of the way up the field, which is an improvement over my Shanghai qualifying position, and hopefully means things are heading in the right direction and the experience of big tournaments is starting to help.

“I shot two points behind my Mexican opponent in the head-to-head match and that deficit lasted for the rest of the match until he managed to gain another point on me in the last end.

“I had been playing catch-up from the start and I must get my game going from the off against this level of competition.

“In the team event, we were drawn against the Netherlands, who have three of the best archers in the world making up their squad, so we didn’t do too badly at all.”

Stage four of the Archery World Cup in Wroclaw, Poland, begins on August 19.

Rudd, who is ranked as a Grand Master Bowman, recently finished sixth in the first two events of this year’s national series and is aiming to make the Grand Final at Nottingham’s Wollaton Hall on August 30-31.

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