July 2001 Sport News Headlines

Friday, July 13, 2001 - Web posted at 11:23:07 GMT

Sitler the star at SA archery champs

NAMIBIAN archers Charlton Sitler, Rita Schenk and Josef Preisser all excelled at the South African National Championships in FITA (Federation Internationale de Tir a l'Arc) archery as well as the third Africa Cup which took place in Vanderbijlpark recently.

Experienced archer Rita Schenk won the SA Nationals, with Josef Preisser coming third, while both attained third place at the Africa Cup competition.

The outstanding archer at the tournament, however, was Charlton Sitler from Khomasdal.

Although sitting in a wheelchair he participated in the men's recurve division and not in a special category for archers with disabilities.

A cracking start with his first six arrows won him one of the SANAA badges for six golds in a row.

On the first day of his first international FITA star tournament outside Namibia he achieved more than 1 000 points and followed it up with 1 100 points on the second day.

With this strong performance he became the first-ever Namibian to get the 1 000 and 1 100 FITA star for recurve archers.

"It was an unforgettable experience. I have to admit that I didn't think I would shoot well in the windy and ice cold weather conditions, but I started off very well because I was mentally and physically prepared for that tournament", Charlton said. In the quarter-finals on the third day he beat one of the South African team archers who will compete at the World Championships in China, with the highest score in that round. In the semi-finals he was eventually beaten by a young and keen South African who had become quite aware of Charlton's performances the previous days. "I gained a lot of experience and I feel very positive that I will do very well in future tournaments" he said upon his return to Windhoek.

People who are interested in taking up archery can contact the coach of the Archery Association of Namibia, Josef Preisser at telephone number (061) 221 871 or visit the archers during their official practice hours on Saturday mornings at the shooting range of Wanderers in Pionierspark, Windhoek.

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