NAMIBIAN archers won six medals at the Africa Archery Championships which Namibia hosted at the DTS Sport Grounds over the weekend.
In the individual compound category Francois Marais won a gold medal, Beanta Viviers silver and Ilana Malan bronze, while Namibia won two silver and one bronze medal in the Compound Team events.
Marais has now qualified to compete in next year’s World Games in Wroclaw, Poland while Viviers has possibly also qualified, although her position must still be verified.
Namibia however failed to make an impact in the Recurve competition which served as the qualifier for the 2016 Olympic Games.
In the Compound Men’s category, Francois Marais won the gold medal after beating Riaan Crowther of South Africa 123-119 in the final.
Crowther had earlier knocked out his top-seeded compatriot Patrick Roux in the semifinals, while Marais beat the third seed Ahmed Fakhry of Egypt in the semifinals. In the bronze medal play-off, Roux beat Fakhry 139-128.
In the Compound Women’s category, Namibia’s Beanta Viviers won a silver medal while Ilana Malan narrowly missed out on a bronze medal.
In the final, Hala Elgibily of Egypt beat Viviers 131-125, while another Egyptian Nancy Elgibily beat Malan 129-120 in the bronze medal play-off.
Namibia also won three medals in the team events.
In the Compound Men’s Team event, the Namibian team of Francois Marais, Louw Nel and Ben van Wyk won a silver medal with South Africa claiming gold and Egypt bronze.
In the Compound Women’s Team event the Namibian team of Beanta Viviers, Ilana Malan and Elisabeth Taljaard won the bronze medal, with Egypt claiming gold and South Africa bronze.
In the Compound Mixed Team event the Namibian team of Elisabeth Taljaard and Francois Marais won a silver medal, with South Africa claiming gold and Egypt bronze.
In the Recurve Men Team event South Africa won gold, Egypt silver and Morocco bronze, while Egypt claimed gold in the Recurve Women Team event, with South Africa taking silver and Algeria bronze.
In the Recurve Mixed Team event the Ivory Coast won the gold medal, with Egypt winning silver and South Africa bronze.
According to the president of the Archery Association of Namibia, Frank Bockmuhl, the tournament was well organised.
“From the feedback we got the tournament’s organisation as well as the medal presentation was of a world standard,” he said.
“The tournament showed us that our archers need much more psychological preparation with a professional. They can all shoot but the mental strength needed, not to crack under the pressure – that need’s another type of preparation,” Bockmuhl added.
