World Championships--Turin, Italy

Eric left early Wednesday morning to begin his travels to Italy. He left Phoenix and flew to Dulles International Airport and waited for 6 hours there to board the next plane. He then traveled to Frankfurt, Germany finally landing in Turin, Italy over 24 hours later.

I've been able to communicate with him a couple of times through instant messaging. Internet costs him $15/hour and he's having a difficult time getting his computer to hook up to the network, so I'm afraid we might not be able to talk as much as we would like.

The good news is there's a website, www.archery.org that has a link for the Paralympic World Championships (make sure you find the Paralympic link and not the able-bodied championships that is also going on there!) and it looks like there will be live scoring available. So hopefully once he begins to compete, we will be able to keep up with his successes. You'll have to stay up into the wee hours of the night though, due to the 9 hour time difference! :)

Here is a brief outline of his shooting schedule:

Tuesday, July 12th--Qualification: Long Distance

Wednesday, July 13th--Qualification: Short Distance

Thursday, July 14th--Individual Elimination

Friday, July 15th--Individual Elimination & Team Elimination

Saturday, July 16th--Team Elimination & Finals, Award Ceremony for Team

Sunday, July 17th--Individual Finals, Award Ceremony for Individuals

So this is how it all plays out: Everyone will shoot at 90 and 70 meters on Tuesday. Then everyone will shoot at 50 and 30 meters on Wednesday. This will give them a qualifying total. Based off that total score, they will be ranked and will enter a head-to-head competition. We will see Eric shooting in the Individual Finals on Sunday! When Eric medals here at world championships, he will automatically qualify to go to the Paralympics in London 2012.

Eric did mention the hotel they are staying at is very nice with "fancy food". For those who know Eric, fancy food is not always a good thing. He told me the shooting field is on the grounds of an old castle and looks pretty amazing. He said the castle is on a hill up above the field. He's hoping to get a picture soon to send me that I'll be able to upload.

He sends his love to everyone and appreciates all your support and well wishes. Please feel free to leave comments and questions if I failed to explain something. :)