Olympics-London 2012 plans for archery at Lord's given go-ahead

LONDON, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Cricket will make way for archery at the historic Lord's ground in two years' time after London 2012 organisers got the go-ahead for their plans on Monday.

Lord's, the spiritual home of world cricket, will be temporarily transformed into an Olympic archery venue with 5,000 seats installed on the lush green outfield.

"I'm delighted that we have obtained permission to stage the Olympic archery at Lord's in 2012," London organising committee chairman Sebastian Coe said after Westminster City council approved the 2012 makeover for the north London ground.

"Lord's will be a spectacular venue for hosting the Games in 2010 and the Olympic archery will be an exciting competition for both spectators and athletes."

The archery is provisionally scheduled to run from July 27 to Aug. 3, in the middle of the English cricket season, but Lord's executives believe disruption to the calendar will be minimal.

Keith Bradshaw, chief executive of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) who are based at Lord's, said this year that he hoped two cricket tests would be staged on the ground in 2012.

South Africa are due to tour and currently there is one test match and three one-day internationals planned for Lord's.

Archers will fire their arrows from in front of the Lord's pavilion towards the space-age media centre that is one of London's most recognisable structures.

Lords's is one of several iconic venues that will stage 2012 events. The All England Club will host tennis, Greenwich Park the equestrian events and beach volleyball will take place on Horse Guard's Parade.

(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by John Mehaffey; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)