The 61st South African National Archery Championships came to an end on Wednesday, with Rhodes archers taking away a total of 14 medals.
The 61st South African National Archery Championships came to an end on Wednesday, with Rhodes archers taking away a total of 14 medals.
This year’s Nationals were hosted by the Rhodes University Archery Club, on the Rhodes Great Field. The three-day event ran smoothly, except for some challenging wind conditions. Top archers from South Africa and Namibia came to shoot in this year’s Nationals and a number of records were broken along the way.
Competition was tough and the Rhodes archers had to work hard to make their mark. On the first day, the archers shot an International Archery Federation (Fita) round, consisting of four rounds on different distances of six ends each.
Archers shot six arrows per end. In the standard bow division, Nicole Messias (Rhodes) took silver and Jessica Wentworth (Rhodes) took bronze for the women's division.
In the men’s division Michael Davies took silver. In the recurve limited division, Nadia du Plessis kept the Rhodes name high by winning silver. Drik Hoskin dominated his division of Compound Master men and received gold.
During the second day, the archers shot a 720 round, in which they shot 50 metres and only two rounds, with a total of 72 arrows. These scores then served as ranking for the elimination rounds, in which archers shot out against each other.
The bronze and gold medal elimination matches proceeded on the third and last day of Nationals. Once again, Rhodes archers swiped the field and received a few medals. In the standard bow women's event, Nicole Messias took silver again and Jessica Wentworth bronze.
In the men’s division, Michael Davies took bronze in the eliminations and Nadia du Plessis took the silver again in her recurve limited round. Drik Hoskin took gold again in eliminations in the compound master’s men's division.
Simon Naude was a surprise, winning bronze in the compound junior men division in only his second Nationals. There were also a few team events that the Rhodes archers participated in. Lance Ho and Jorina Coetzee (shooting for Eastern Cape) received silver in the mixed team event, cheered on by a loud Rhodes team.
In this event, the best female and male archers in a province team up against all other provinces to shoot out for gold. Lance Ho made it on to the Candidate Squad, announced at the banquet on Wednesday night.
The candidate squad is a team made of archers who are potential candidates for the gold squad – the national team to represent South Africa in archery competitions around the world.
The other Eastern Cape team entered in the Women’s Compound Unlimited team. The members were Jorina Coetzee, Ettione Ferreira and Leanne Poole and they won silver in the eliminations.
The team was also entered in a club team event, where the winner was determined by scores from the Fita and 720, and Rhodes Archery Club got gold.
