24 National Trials 3

"This year does look promising. The archer we should keep an eye on is Pan Yu. Whether or not he can improve on last year's performance will most likely be the make or break of this team. If he can maintain or improve on his form, it won't be impossible to reach the quarter-finals." Lin Yibin analyzed objectively.

"True, that Pan Yu is truly a talented archer, but he was quite unlucky to run into Han Tianfu of Shanghai last year. Hopefully, he can make history this year." Shi Min said.

"Yes well, let us look forward to the moment new history is made." Lin Yibin responded with a smile.

The national championships were a large-scale event just below the level of events such as the Asian Games and the Olympic Games. It wasn't like the low-level competitions.

There was only the 70-meters team competition and individual competition because there was so many archers and teams.

According to the schedule, the first two days would be the team event. The first day was the qualifying stages. After the qualifiers, was the knockout round on the second day.

There were two venues for men and women. After arriving, they separated from the women's team at the entrance and went to the men's section.

In terms of China's archery strength, the women's team was far stronger than the men's team. The women's team had won silver medals at the Olympics and the World Championships several times.

In contrast, the men's team seemed shabby as they could only be considered second-rate in the world.

After entering the venue, Song Feng went over to the women's team, and Pan Yu was left in charge of the men's team.

Dong Jie was in the first group to shoot, followed by Pan Yu; and Tang Yan and Ding Ran, who were in the same group.

"Welcome ladies and gentlemen... to the 2010 National Archery Championships. This is the longest-established grand event for national archery enthusiasts. First of all, let me introduce the guests present... I will start with one of the greatest coaches to ever appear: the head coach of the Chinese archery team, Tian Zhenzhe."

After this introduction, a middle-aged man in his forties, who was seated in the most central position among the judges, stood up and politely waved his hand. This person, while not very old, was actually a famous figure in the field of archery—he had trained Zhang Wei, the only male archer to achieve success at the Olympics.

Following this, the other guests were introduced one after another. Most of them were also well-known figures in the field of archery and head coaches of the respective provincial teams.

Tang Yan paid extra attention to Shanghai city's head coach; Qiu Anguo, and the Guangdong's head coach; Lai Yongxing. The two seemed to have a good relationship.

What surprised him was that, in the middle of the group, he actually saw Li Lao.

After the introduction of the guests, the first group of archers was called up.

"Dong Jie of Zhejiang!" When Dong Jie was called up, Tang Yan and Ding Ran both opened up the path for him.

Dong Jie nodded and looked back at Pan Yu, then walked up to the shooting gallery.

Pan Yu didn't say anything. He had been watching the members of the Shanghai and Guangdong provinces since he had entered the arena.

As one of the main team members, Dong Jie was an experienced archer. His psychological strength and performance were both stable. He scored a total of 640 points.

Which ranked him first among the first group of archers; in other words, Dong Jie had commenced with a good start for the Zhejiang Province.

"Old Song, it seems you're determined to succeed this year." After the first group was finished, another head coach, Zhang Feng, turned to Song Feng.

"Haha, Old Zhang, stop feeding my ego. I heard that your archery team has a 17-year-old who can shoot 630 points this year. The future is unpredictable." Song Feng said with a smile.

"Haha... It will be his first time participating in a competition of this scale. So it's hard to say how well he will perform, but I hope he can make a good impression. After all, the Youth Olympic is coming soon, and this is a rare opportunity." Zhang Feng responded with a grin.

The two were seated not far from Lai Yongxing and Qiu Anguo; therefore, their words naturally passed into these two's ears.

Hearing this, Lai Yongxing coughed and deliberately spoke with some volume: " Qiu Anguo, I've heard rumors that Han Tianfu has reached the threshold of 650. You need to share your secrets on coaching. "

"Haha, it's mainly due to his hardwork and dedication. I only gave a few minor pointers. Unfortunately, we don't get a lot of resources like some teams who can afford to stay in hotels; otherwise, we could improve even further, Sadly, we can only rely on ourselves." Qiu Anguo said with emotion.

Hearing this conversations, Song Feng's brows furrowed. It was clear to everyone what he was implying.

His breathing became a bit heavy, but he didn't say anything. After all, the was some truth in their words. He could only look at the field and sigh.

The second group of archers included Han Tianfu. His shooting was much better than Dong Jie's, scoring 650 points.

When Han Tianfu completed his round, Qiu Anguo looked over at Song Feng with a sidelong glance. He had already agreed with Lai Yongxing that when the championship was over they would jointly file a complaint against the Zhejiang Province.

Song Feng didn't know the schemes Lai Yongxing and Qiu Anguo had planned out; nevertheless, when he saw Han Tianfu's score of 650 points, his heart sank slightly, and he became nervous, occasionally fidgeting with his hands.

When the third group of archers came up, among them was the well-known young archer called Li Haoze from Xinjiang province, last year's winner; Qiu Tian, ​​and last of all, Pan Yu. This group had all three of the championships favorites.

The appearance of this group instantly attracted a burst of cheers from the audience.