Pain in Spain for Folkard

In a field which included some of the world’s best recurve ladies, Folkard shot 578 to qualify in third for the head-to-head matches.

After a first-round bye, Folkard, a former silver medalist at the event, won all three sets to beat Natalia Lesniak (Poland) 6-0 before overcoming former world number one Natalya Erdyniyeva (Russia) by the same scoreline in the quarter-final.

The 27-year-old struggled against in-form Italian Natalia Valeeva in the semi-final, losing all three legs (30-27, 29-27, 29-28), to leave her fighting it out for bronze with Coby Hurkmans (Netherlands).

In a nail-biting match, Folkard produced a perfect 30 in the final set to level the scores at 5-5 and set up a single arrow shoot-off to determine the destination of the bronze medal.

Both archers shot a 9, but Hurkman’s arrow was adjudged to be closer to the centre.

“I am shooting well and should have won a medal,” said a disappointed Folkard.

“I was a bit unlucky with the sets system as I actually beat Coby on total arrow scores in the match by 154 points to 151 points, and I have to take some satisfaction from that.”

Russia’s Tatyana Boroday beat Valeeva, also in a single arrow shoot-off, to clinch gold.