Kieran Slater has delivered a gold medal for Britain on the final day of competition at the European Junior Cup tournament in Paphos.

Kieran, from Gloucestershire, beat Slovenia’s Jan Rijavec in the gold medal of the men’s recurve cadet tournament, showing nerves of steel as he clinched victory on a tie-break.

“I am so pleased for Kieran, he’s had a brilliant week, and this is the icing on the cake,” said Archery GB Performance Manager Barry Eley. “He’s clearly a young man with great potential, and this is a great confidence booster for him ahead of the World Championships in Poland.

I’m really proud of all our squad, they’ve been great ambassadors for GB, and they all work really hard. I’ve no doubt that they’ll be no let up now in their preparations for the World Championships, and lets hope our archers can continue to prove their potential in Poland.”

World Junior Championships Poland August 2011

In the only recurve qualifying of the opening day, Kieran Slater’s 1287 saw him go through in 25th place, ahead of Ashe Morgan in 33rd (1279) and Jamie Fisher in 54th (1257). Combined they will go into the team tournament ranked ninth.

Bowman of Minchinhampton

Most recently one of our members Kieran Slater has gained a place in the Junior GB team and is also a member of the Junior Talent Identification Squad looking for future Olympic archers which is based at Lilleshall. This is a fantastic achievement for Kieran.

Kieran started shooting at the age of 11 and has worked very hard both at home, with the support of his family and at the club with the coaching of Keith Parsons and Graham Williams. Now at age 16 Kieran is ranked within the top 5 juniors in the country.

Kieran took part in his first International tournament in May 2010, The European Junior Cup in Reggio Calabria in Italy. In July 2010 he is due to shoot for Great Britain at The European Outdoor Junior Championship in Winnenden in Germany.

As a club we are very proud to have one of our members gain such a high achievement which is well deserved for all the time and dedication he puts in, not only for himself but for the benefit of other club members with his help, advice and good humour. We hope to see Kieran progress within the sport and continue to achieve great things in the future.

For more information Keiran has his own Blog