Defending champion Brown wins archery gold after beating fellow Brit Clarke
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Great Britain's Danielle Brown successfully defended her Paralympic Games title with a narrow victory over team-mate Mel Clarke in a tense women's individual compound final at the Royal Artillery Barracks which went down to the final arrow.
Yorkshirewoman Brown won Paralympic gold in 2008, the Commonwealth Games team title in Delhi two years ago and now has triumphed at London 2012.
Brown met compatriot Clarke, bronze medallist from Beijing, in the final, winning 6-4.
Brit special: Danielle Brown (right) and Mel Clarke (left) with their archery medals
The Britons could not be separated early on, scoring 27-27 in the first set and 29-29 in the second, before three arrows of nine saw Brown, who was shooting first, take a 4-2 lead.
Clarke responded to take the fourth set 29-26 and level at 4-4 to force a fifth.
She required a maximum 10 score on the final arrow to win, but she shot a seven - her worst arrow of the final - as the pressure told and Brown won.
In the semi-finals, Brown claimed a 6-2 semi-final success over Marina Lyzhnikova and Clarke beat Stepanida Artakhinova, another Russian, 6-0.
Artakhinova claimed bronze with a 7-3 defeat of her team-mate Lyzhnikova.
Golden girl: Brown defended her archery title in London
Brown was relieved she did not have the final shot.
She said: 'That helps a lot. My arrows had all gone and she had to play catch-up, as it were.
'It was a 10 to tie the set and then we would've had to do a one-arrow shoot off.
'I've been really feeling [the pressure] the last couple of weeks, so to actually come here and manage to keep my head in the right place, I'm chuffed to bits about that.
'It's been crazy. I didn't think it would have affected me the way it has.'
Clarke said: 'It's unreal. To get through to the final was brilliant.
'To shoot against another Brit in the final was incredible and I shot really well. I'm really proud.'
More to follow.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/othersports/article-2198203/London-2012-Paralympics-Danielle-Brown-beats-Mel-Clarke-archery-final.html#ixzz25WEMJxxS
