ARCHERY: Sam fires way to two world golds

Spalding archer Sam Newton has landed two gold medals at the World Transplant Games.

That makes him a British champion, European champion and now world champion.

His first gold at Newcastle and Gateshead came in the individual competition last Sunday, comprehensively beating Thai opponent Supasak Choeichum – the only other competitor in the men’s 30-39 age category.

With the 80cm target at a 30m distance, 38-year-old Newton shot a score of 294 from his 36 arrows, which included four golds. Choeichum scored 142.

Then on Monday, Newton, who underwent a kidney and pancreas transplant five years ago, partnered with Peter Nichols to also win gold for Great Britain in the team event.

Newton said: “I’m proud of myself because it’s the result of a lot of hard work.

“That’s what I came to do and I achieved it.

“I have the same expectations as an able-bodied archer because I was an archer before I had a transplant.”

He added: “I put myself under a lot of pressure and I’ll admit that I’ve not been the best person to be around this last few weeks, so I want to thank my GB coach Pete Probert and everybody who has put up with my bad moods at times.”

Newton’s prowess was underlined when his score in the individual event was confirmed as the highest on the field (across all male and female categories).

The team event started with a round robin against four others – three British and a German. Newton and Nichols sailed through to the semi-finals with four wins and then won that match 6-0. They went on to win the final against fellow GB team members Susan Wrightson and Edwin Shutt 6-0.

Newton also competed in badminton events. He was knocked out of the singles competition but yesterday (Wednesday) won his opening mixed pairs match with Catherine Hall. However, the duo were then eliminated by another GB pair.

He was philosophical about the defeats, saying: “Archery is my sport and I’ve had great success this week, so I’m very happy.”