Archery
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MADDIE Salvestro has extracted some delightful revenge over Victorian archer Maddie McSwain, who was last month crowned the best junior female archer in the country at the National Youth Championships.
Thriving under pressure, 15-year-old Salvestro claimed the Victorian state title for cadet girls on the weekend in Melbourne, overcoming a confident McSwain in a head-to-head match-up on Saturday and Sunday.
"It's unofficial, but we've beaten the champion of champions and the number one ranked archer in Australia," coach Ben Pawson said.
"The whole hype of the event when we went to juniors was that McSwain was the unbeatable one.
"Her father made quite a point of telling us she's never lost a tournament, or any event she's entered, and that it wasn't about to happen on that weekend."
Well, it did.
McSwain finished top in the all-round component at the National Youth Championships in Adelaide, but Salvestro - who finished third - was thirsting for a rematch the minute the tournament wrapped up last month.
Her opportunity came at the Victorian titles, but upon arrival on Saturday, Salvestro and Pawson were informed McSwain, 14, had launched straight into training, shooting a full FITA (144 scored arrows at distance) every day until the state championships.
Both camps were keen to discover who would really win out if the pair shot over the same distances, unlike in Adelaide.
On Saturday it looked as if it would be McSwain, who capitalised on Salvestro's unsettled start to lead by eight points at the end of day one.
But a determined Salvestro overcame howling winds and pelting rain on Sunday to close the gap with one distance remaining- meaning whoever made the first mistake from 30m would surrender the title.
McSwain collapsed first, dropping an end of 24/30 before Salvestro nailed three perfect Xs to give her the mental edge to take the win by 10 points.
"She's just over the moon," Pawson said.
"It was a brilliant match to watch. She just kept it together, it was beautiful.
"To keep her composure under extreme pressure is incredible.
"She's really developing and the focus she's putting in is definitely paying off."
Salvestro's next assignment is the Queensland state titles at the start of next month.