Alan 'Dangerous' Wills on target for world title

By Sportsbeat staff

BEING known as ‘the most dangerous man in archery' might not be much of a compliment if you're an archer but Alan Wills lived up to his nickname in Hungary.

ON TARGET: Alan Wills missed out on the quarter-finals at the Beijing Olympics but won the world field archery title in Hungary (Getty Images)

Wills won gold in an all-British men's individual recurve final at the FITA World Field Archery Championships, beating Jon Shales 54-51.

And Naomi Folkard also won silver in the women's final, after Sweden's Christine Bjerendal proved her measure with a 53-45 victory.

"It hasn't really sunk in yet," said Wills. 

"This will give me some more confidence and it will also be really good for the team. We've got a really strong team.

 "I was something like seventh after the first couple of qualifying rounds and I wasn't performing up to my potential. I decided to just give it my best and go for it, and it all came together."

The field archery championships differ from those that will feature at London 2012, as it involves shooting at different sized targets at different distances and gradients on a field course. 

At the Olympics, targets will be at a uniform distance of 70 metres, with Lord's Cricket Ground the 2012 venue.

Wills's next target will be the Commonwealth Games in Delhi later this year, with archery making only its second appearance at the event.

And with next hosts Glasgow electing not to stage the sport in four years time, Wills knows he might have only one shot at success.

"The Commonwealth Games are a once in a lifetime opportunity," he said.

"Archery hasn't been at the Commonwealth Games for 28 years and I'm really looking forward to it."