Shooting star: Coward-Holley's road to Tokyo 2020
Great Britain's Matthew Coward-Holley in action during the men's trap final at Asaka Shooting Range - Credit: PA
The club where Olympic medallist Matt Coward-Holley began shooting is "delighted" with his Tokyo 2020 performance.
Coward-Holley, 26, began trap shooting eight years ago in Nuthampstead, near Royston.
He took up the sport after breaking his back for a second time just over a decade ago, shattering a successful rugby career while he was still a schoolboy at Felsted, near Great Dunmow.
Great Britain's Matthew Coward-Holley poses with his bronze medal after finishing third in the Trap Men's final at Asaka Shooting Range - Credit: PA
In Tokyo, he secured a bronze in the Olympic men's trap shooting final last Thursday (July 29) shooting 33 out of 40 targets. Coward-Holley already boasts world and European championship titles.
He came 10th in the mixed trap event on Saturday alongside Northern Irish trap shooter Kirsty Hegarty.
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Nicky Barker and her son Ed from the Nuthampstead Shooting Ground said they are looking forward to seeing Coward-Holley's medal.
Nicky said: "We at Nuthampstead Shooting Ground are absolutely delighted with Matt’s amazing result in Tokyo.
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"It was pretty traumatic watching the competition unfold over the two days as the scores were particularly high, and not a lot of room for any misses.
"The amount of pressure is immense for the shooters as each one shoots in turn, hoping to hit the ‘Flash Clay’ and for the pink dust to fly into the sky.
"Matt held his nerve and held out for the bronze medal."
Nicky said her late husband Martin, who died suddenly in 2016, introduced Coward-Holley to the double trap, a discipline which was removed from the Olympics after Rio 2016.
She added: "Matt retrained and took on the very different discipline of Olympic trap and has progressed to the highest levels.
"Congratulations Matt, and we look forward to seeing that medal very soon!"
In 2019, Coward-Holley became the first Briton to win a world title in an individual Olympic shotgun discipline.
He is the first Felsted School alumnus to win an Olympic medal in 30 years.
Coward-Holley described his win in Tokyo as "surreal".
He said: "I didn’t really imagine this until a couple of years ago when I’d broken on to the scene.
"That was when the Olympic dream became real and it could happen."
