WUHAN, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- At the end of the archery competition of 7th Military World Games here on Thursday, the French archery team got a nice surprise as the whole team was awarded the Fair-Play Trophy.
"This award was completely unexpected. It's been the icing on the cake after months and months of preparation. With four medals and this trophy, we are very happy for the whole team," said team captain Pierre Gerzac Thursday.
"It' definitely a nice surprise, this Fair-Play award," added deputy head of French delegation Benjamin Louche. "We brought a big delegation. I think they were all outstanding, not only as competitors, but also as sportsmen and women, cheering for all other delegations and athletes, staying also as a whole team at the venue until the end of the competitions. That made them stand out, also as a team."
It was indeed a fruitful day for the French archers. The disabled women's individual recurve podium was entirely occupied by French. Linda Coyac pocketed the gold, while teammates Catherine Denarie and Rose-Marie Maya had a silver and a bronze respectively.
"It's without doubt exceptional to win this gold medal here at the Military Games," Coyac commented. "A lot of emotions for me. It's been a period of diligently preparing and hard work of putting a lot of efforts in training which at the end paid off. It's a nice reward for all the individual work, but also for the whole team."
Fabian Frily managed to clinch a silver medal for France in the disabled men's individual recurve competition, which is a remarkable feat as the athlete, a former shot putter who won a para class C gold at the previous Military Games in 2015, changed sports only two years ago, discovering archery as a new passion.
