Archery switch good for sport, says Nicky Hunt

Hunt will continue to compete on the compound tour

World number one compound archer Nicky Hunt says her switch to the recurve discipline should promote healthy competition in the GB ranks.

Ipswich-based Hunt has switched because recurve is an Olympic discipline.

"Healthy competition is always good. In the compound there were only a few of us involved a few years ago," she told BBC Radio Suffolk.

"By the Commonwealth Games, we had so many more people who wanted to go, so it can only be good for the sport."

The 2010 Commonwealth Games double gold winner revealed a month ago she was considering picking up the recurve bow in order to have a chance of competing at London 2012.

Now Hunt has confirmed she will go ahead with the move with the help of GB coach Lloyd Brown and the backing of a new sponsor, local company Drill Masters, which enables her to take a step back from her full-time job as a physiotherapist.

"It's unknown territory really. I think he's [Brown] got some faith in me. He wouldn't be putting the time in if he didn't think it was possible," she added.

"As that string is pulled back it gets heavier and heavier, so I'm now learning a slightly different technique of loading up the muscles.

"There's lots of work to do at the beginning of a long journey."

Hunt, who won two gold medals and two silvers on last season's World Cup tour, will continue to compete on the international compound circuit while training with the recurve bow.

"I think there's still things to win in compound," she said.

"But with the home Olympics in 2012 and all the support and funding that surrounds our sport at the moment, it seems like a fantastic time to have a go.

"Through the 2011 season I need to achieve my qualifying scores [for the GB Olympic team] and then there'll be selection shoots in the spring of 2012 to select the three to make the team."