CG 2010

The logo above is the new brand for Commonwealth Games England Organisation, the website is www.weareengland.org

3rd January 2010

(From CGE comms team)

Daily Telegraph on the 30th December 2009 ran an article under the headline ' England ready to pull out of Commonwealth Games over terror risk'. In the interests of accuracy and balance Commonwealth Games England issued the following statement when the story broke.

Commonwealth Games England officials issued a strong rebuttal to the Daily Telegraph story that suggests that England are ready to “pull out of the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games over security risks”.

“That is definitely not the case. Our current and strong intention is to field a team for the Games in Delhi next year”, said England General Team Manager, Ann Hogbin. “Of course, we have a duty of care to the athletes and other team members which we take very seriously. Despite having been given extensive briefings from relevant authorities we have not received any indication that we should not participate in the Games and we will continue to work hard to put in place the best possible arrangements for our team”.

In addition to making you aware of our official response to the Telegraph piece we would like to take this opportunity to reassure you that:

·       The safety of everyone who is part of the team is of paramount importance to Commonwealth Games England and to that end we have already taken significant steps to evaluate and monitor the security situation for the Games. This has included a recent briefing from specialist police units (who also provided security for Team GB in Beijing ) to the CGE Board and senior management, and team reconnaissance trips to Delhi which have involved representatives of all sports and security advisors.
·       At no time during any of these briefings, or from any other official sources, have we received any indication that we should consider pulling out of the Games for any reason and we are continuing with our preparations to send our largest ever team to Delhi for what we expect to be a highly successful Games for England .
·       We will continue to monitor the situation closely and to actively seek and be guided by the very best expert advice from a range of official channels. We will respond in a measured way to media speculation, but will not be influenced by it.
·       We want everyone representing England at the games to have a successful and enjoyable time and recognise that this will only happen if they feel safe and secure and we will continue to work to ensure that this is the case.
·       All of the above was made clear to journalists at the Telegraph by our press office, but they chose to largely ignore our briefing and run with a story based on unattributed sources and containing innaccurate quotes and statistics.

Please be assured that we will continue to update you as our preparations for the Games gather momentum, but in the short term the message is clear - we have every intention of being in Delhi next October with our largest ever team, who will be well looked after and ready and able to compete at their best.

The EAF supports the above statement from the CGE and will continue to make preparations for the Games in October

The EAF has stated that the Test Event in Delhi is an opportunity for those invited archers who have not yet managed to achieve all the qualifying scores to do so.

The competition format in Delhi for the eliminations and finals has now been published as sets rather than the 12 arrow head to head passes. The EAF will therefore accept the first two ends of a set match score (i.e. 12 arrows) as qualifying scores for the head to head component of the qualification criteria for invitation to the selection shoots for Team England.

Archers are reminded that they must submit their scores by the 12th of April 2010 in order to secure an invitation to the April selection shoot at Lilleshall. It would be helpful if archers who have already achieved all the qualifying scores and have not yet submitted them would do so as soon as possible.

click here for the policy document, click here for the selection process document and click here for criteria for invitation to selection shoots. (all documents are in .pdf format)

FITA have confirmed that the format of the Commonwealth Games Championship will include the use of the SET system for individuals but will remain with the traditional Head to Head for the Team event. Therefore it may be necessary to amend the format of the selection shoot in June 2010. This will need to be ratified by Commonwealth Games England. Confirmation will be posted as soon as possible.

Ranked	Ladies Recurve	Ladies Compound	Gents Recurve	Gents Compound

1	Naomi Folkard	Nicky Hunt	Simon Terry	Chris White
2	Alison Williamson	Nichola Simpson	Larry Godfrey	Duncan Busby
3	Charlotte Burgess	Rikki Bingham	Alan Wills	Liam Grimwood
4	Amy Oliver	Andrea Gales	Michael Peart	Andy Rikunenko
5	Estelle Edwick	Lucy O'Sullivan	Tom Barber	James Bingham
6	Philippa Lowe	Danielle Brown	Jonathan Shales	James Forbes
7	Abi Clayton	Lucy Holderness	Rob Hallworth	Jonathan Mynott
8	Joann Lunt	Kay Smith	Lee Williams	John Robbins
9	Louise Colville	Christie Westman	Grant Womack	Adam Shaw
10	Kat Baier	Zoe Coggins	Daniel Sheppard	Mark Franklin

The above is a list of archers from English clubs in the 5 EAF regions and has been extracted from the offical GNAS 2009 ranking list.

The EAF is delighted to announce the appointment of Tom Williamson and Kim Copson as Assistant Team Managers for the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Paul Atkins has been named as reserve. All three will work with Team Manager Hilda Gibson at the winter squads before taking a team of archers to the Delhi Test Event in March 2010 in preparation for the Commonwealth Games in October. Les Smeeton, Chairman of the 2010 sub-committee believes that from a good quality list of applicants for the posts of assistant team managers, the selection panel has appointed a very experienced Management Team to help and encourage potential Team England archers perform at their very best at the Games and bring home medals.

Confirmation that the EAF Selection shoots will take place at Lilleshall 17th April 2010 and on 19/20th June 2010 at a venue to be advised. The dates in Archery UK should be ignored. Please note these shoots are invitation only.

All English archers are reminded that in order to be invited to attend the selection shoot on April 17th 2010, scores must be submitted to 2010records@englisharcheryfederation.org on the form shown lower down this page.

Whilst there is no intention of altering the closing date of Monday 12th April 2010 for the submission of scores, it would be helpful for initial planning purposes, if those archers who have achieved the criteria would submit their scores as soon as possible after the end of September 2009.

Competitor Eligibility for the Games - Article 24 of the Commonwealth Games Federation Constitution click here for the document (in pdf format)