When the arrows finished flying at the Commonwealth Games today Shaun Teasdale was the only New Zealand archer at Yamuna Sports Complex left standing.
Teasdale, 21, won both his elimination round matches to be one of eight archers left with a shot at the men's individual compound title.
He will meet Johannes Grobler, of Namibia, on Saturday for a place in the semifinals.
That will be a revenge match, as Grobler today eliminated Teasdale's friend and teammate Steve Clifton, after Clifton had looked in great touch to qualify as the third seed.
Teasdale beat Abul Kashem Mamum, of Bangladesh, 4-0 then Michael Schleppe, of Canada, 4-0 to reach the quarterfinals.
Matches are played in sets of six arrows, with two points for each set won.
Clifton lost 2-4 to Grobler, after winning 4-0 first up over Jonathan Snell, of Norfolk Island, while teammate Tony Waddick won a tight 4-3 battle over China Raju Srither, of India, before bowing out 0-4 to second seed Duncan Busby, of England.
Waddick and Clifton were "gutted," coach Shane Switzer told NZPA, saying they now had to get their minds around the team competition tomorrow.
New Zealand qualified third in the team event -- with 2095 points to England's 2099 and South Africa's 2098 -- and take on Cyprus in the first knockout round.
"There's still a gold medal for them up for grabs, now the focus for them is the team," Switzer said.
Medals prospects swiftly dimmed for the women, with Stephanie Croskery, Anne Mitchell and Mandy McGregor all being eliminated in the individual event, and the daunting prospect of England awaiting in the first round of the team knockout tomorrow.
Mitchell caused a massive upset today when she beat medal prospect Nichola Simpson, of England, 4-0 to make the final 16, only to bow to Australian Cassie McCall in the next round.
Croskery also reached the final 16, beating Bheigyabati Chanu, of India, 4-0 then losing 2-4 to Tracey McGowan, of Scotland.
Teammate Mandy McGregor lost 0-4 first up to Danielle Brown, of England, the Paralympic gold medallist.
Brown suffers from a condition called RSD -- reflex sympathetic dystrophy, which results in constant, chronic pain in her feet and she shoots propped on a stool so the weight is off her feet.
