More than 100 archers were in action yesterday at the start of the annual South African National Archery Championships on the Rhodes University Great Field.
More than 100 archers were in action yesterday at the start of the annual South African National Archery Championships on the Rhodes University Great Field.
Top archers from across the country, as well as a team of international archers from Namibia are participating in the event hosted by the Eastern Cape Archery Association. Archers arrived in town earlier in the week, with the first official practice on Wednesday.
Thursday began with a practice session, followed by the opening ceremony, where Rhodes archers raised the South African flag, as well as archery flags, during the singing of the national anthem. In welcoming the archers to the shoot during yesterday's opening ceremony, president of the South African National Archery Association, Selwyn Moskovitz, said the first day's event would determine the country's archery champions in various categories.
The South African National Archery Association (Sanaa) Olympic Commission would also use the champs to identify and nurture talent for the 2016 Rio Olympics, according to Moskovitz. The Fita round (scoring arrows) and mixed team events took up the rest of the day.
Today's 720 round, eliminations to semifinals, got under way at 8.30am. The team matches start at 11.15am, followed by the mixed team matches at 12.30pm. Today's competition is expected to end around 3pm. Tomorrow sees the team event and medal matches.
These will be followed by the awards dinner in the evening. The weekend's shoot will also be used to determine who will represent South Africa at the University Games in Spain, the archery world cup in the US and the Para-archery champs in Britain, all taking place in the next few months.
The Rhodes archers taking part are Lance Ho, Simon Naude, Ettione Ferreira, Catherine Linklater, Kevin Lobb, Stuart Bodman and Leanne Poole. Bodman, Naude and Ho make up the Eastern Cape Provincial team for their division.
Dave Martin has been chosen as the director of shoot for the event, while Mike Wisch, of Rhodes, will be among a few judges who will undergo their practical judging exam to qualify as Continental Judges. Robyn Martin, chairperson of the Rhodes Archery Club, said it was a great honour for Rhodes to have been chosen to host the event.
