Briton Larry Godfrey vows to 'kick some ass' after recording personal best in archery ranking round

Friday 27 July: Larry Godfrey in action at Lord's in the archery event (GETTY IMAGES)

Larry Godfrey has vowed to "kick some ass" in the men's archery after kick-starting Team GB's Olympic push with a personal best in the ranking round at Lord's.

Godfrey, the world number 10, shot the fourth best score of the 72-arrow event to lay down a strong marker ahead of the individual competition.

He scored 680, finishing behind only South Korea's dominant three-man team.

Im Dong-hyun - whose 699 was the first world record of the Games - took top seeding, with Kim Bubmin's 698 leaving him second and Oh Jin-hyek's 690 good enough for third.

Bristol-based Godfrey was more than happy with his own score though, finishing four points in front of world number one Brady Ellison, who was left in 10th.

Cumbrian Alan Wills was ranked 42nd with 660 and Leicestershire's Simon Terry was 50th out of 64 competitors with 654.

That leaves them ranked ninth out of 12 teams, with the men's medal matches taking place tomorrow.

Great Britain's path is a tough one, with Ukraine first up followed by a match against the rampant South Koreans should they win.

Godfrey was nevertheless delighted with his day's work.

"I'm very happy with a personal best," he said. "The British record was on, it was in sight, and I let it go towards the end but I am happy."

"I thought I would be a bit lower than fourth.

"But this is what I've been training for - to peak and shoot as well as I can at an Olympic qualifier.

"I have a lot of confidence in myself and the weather held up. It was a great day for shooting.

"Anyone has a chance of a medal tomorrow. There's not many teams here and the ones who are can all win a medal because we're the best in the world.

"We just have to bring what we've got and see what happens. It's about going back and resting now, repeating what I did yesterday then wake up tomorrow and kick some ass."

Godfrey, who has been paired with the world number 127 Emdadul Haque Milon in the first elimination round, also hopes home advantage - and the history of Lord's - can play a part.

"It's nice that we're here in London and nice to have all the GB public around us. It's a good place to be at the moment," he said.

"And in any stadium or historic venue like this one you can feel the old souls coming into you. You feel like they're there with you.

"I know WG Grace will be with me when I walk down those stairs tomorrow."

Wills, who who will face Australia's Taylor Worth in the individual knockouts, was positive about the day despite admitting to an attack of nerves at the start of the round.

"We've been trying to think of it as just another day, but peoples' anxiety levels go up," he confessed.

"I had a few jitters early on with a few silly errors in there but we are feeling confident.

"There were moments of really good stuff in there.

"Larry's been in good form for the past two years and all three of us have had moments of brilliance. If you put those together it can be special.

"The Korean lads dominate but they can be beaten; they're only human."

Terry, whose tough route to the solo medal matches begins with Japan's Yu Ishizu, was pragmatic about his struggles on a day when he was just off his best.

"I can't complain, I didn't make too many mistakes but the arrows just weren't going into the 10m," said the man who claimed double bronze in Barcelona 20 years ago.

"I had so many nines. With two Koreans shooting world records and nearly always hitting 10, if you shoot an end of 54 you just lose ground without making mistakes. That's the sport."

PA