Don’t be such a spoil sport Al

Last updated 11:46, Wednesday, 20 August 2008

EVEN just being on the plane to Beijing meant archer Alan Wills did Cumbria proud.

Wills: Poison arrows

Wills proved that living in the far-flung north is no barrier to sporting success.

So it’s a shame the county’s only competitor had to go and spoil things by acting like a petulant schoolboy by shooting a poison arrow in the direction of his coach.

Wills acted like a bad loser after failing to reach the quarter-finals of the men’s archery after a narrow defeat to Cuba’s Juan Carlos Stevens.

The Arlecdon archer then hit out at coach Peter Suk, saying his mentor was subduing his aggressive style.

Those words would have been better said in the confines of the dressing room rather than spilling out in public in the immediate aftermath of his disappointment.

It’s hardly sporting behaviour that reflects the Olympic spirit.

There’s a big lesson in this for Wills ahead of the London Games in 2012 – Don’t shoot from the lip.