SIMON Powell helped his team strike gold at the European Para-Archery Championships.

The Ardleigh hot-shot achieved a recurve men’s open team gold medal at the event in Switzerland.

It was one of nine medals won by the Archery GB team.

Great Britain came second in the medal table, achieving the highest quantity of medals out of all countries competing at the tournament.

The superb results mean the team exceeded their milestone target of three to five medals, which Archery GB signed up to with UK Sport.

Powell joined forces with David Phillips and Paul Browne and together they had a fantastic tournament, breezing through their qualifying matches and then, in the gold medal match, defeating a strong Russian team 6-2.

Powell began shooting in 2008 with the Bowmen of Ardleigh’s beginners programme and three years later he was selected for Archery GB’s Para Archery Talent Confirmation.