BLOEMFONTEIN – Archers from across South Africa attended the Sunette Smal Target Championships held at the Tempe Archery Club in Bloemfontein. The Sunette Smal Target Champions, which were held on 22 and 23 August, is named after Sunette Smal, a prominent South African National Champion and master archer from the Free State, who competes in the Women’s Master’s recurve division (50+).
The conditions were challenging due to wind, but this only inspired the archers competing for gold to dig deep for a perfect score at the 50-metre distance required for the Senior Archers.
The results were:
■ Masters (50+) compound men: Gold – Kobus Barnard; Silver – Wally Weldeck;
■ Compound men: Gold – Walter Hanneman;
■ Masters (50+) compound woman: Gold – Sunette Smal;
■ Compound woman U18: Gold – Katelynn Muller (Jim Fouché High School, 13); and
■ Compound men U13: Gold – Hendré Potgieter (Universitas Primary School.
The annual Championship was held at the Tempe Archery Club in Bloemfontein and was officiated by the South African National Archery Association (Sanaa) Continental Archery Judge Emile Botha.
Botha will travel to Dakar to officiate during the Youth Olympics to be held from 31 Oct to 13 Nov.
Sanaa offers its members the opportunity to participate in all disciplines, and it recognises both the World Archery Federation and the International Field Archery Association disciplines. In so doing, members can decide which discipline they are more comfortable with and have the opportunity to compete in target, field, 3D, indoor, and outdoor events using compound, recurve, or barebow.
The next event to diarize is the South African National Indoor and Field Archery Association (Sanifaa) Northern Cape Field Championship, taking place on 5 and 6 September at The Willows Farm, just outside Bloemfontein.
The Field Championship is one of the highlights on the calendar, with archers shooting outdoors with targets set in natural and rough terrain, much like a golf course. Archers shoot at stationary targets from varying distances, heights, and angles.
Archery is a family-friendly sport that can be enjoyed by young and old, participants and spectators alike.
