Archers fight for place at world championships
Rene Aebi (left) and Heidi Fink (right, at full draw) using longbows which evolved from Europe’s Medieval Artillery.
This was the last competition for local archers to qualify for the forthcoming 2012 World Field Archery championships scheduled for the end of October in Argentina.
Archers from as far as Luderitz and Tsumeb joined the Sparta, Skw and Windhoek Field Archery Club members in competition.
Very strong gusty winds and dust made shooting difficult at times on Saturday, with several archers recording many misses. Participants even struggled to keep their arrows on the arrow rests while aiming.
However, Sunday was totally different, and near perfect weather conditions contributed to the successful ending of the competition.
As is normal in field archery, several bow styles and classes in different age groups were present. Competitors had the well-known compound bow, the recurve bow and the traditional longbow.
In the end, only three archers achieved the strict minimum scores at least five times during the past 12 months. These were: Beanta Viviers (Adult Female Freestyle Unlimited), Rene Chamberlain (Adult Male Bowhunter Unlimited), Ruan van Staden (Junior Male Freestyle Unlimted)
The Archery Association of Namibia says it will motivate that these three archers be awarded National colours by the Namibia National Sports Commission.
