Nel and Malan dominate Independence Shoot

The Archery Association of Namibia (AAN) recently hosted its annual Independence Shoot at the SKW archery range in Olympia. A total of 43 archers from all over the country made their way to the capital to compete in the Compound and Recurve disciplines.

The competition was open to all member clubs and registered archers of the Archery Association of Namibia (AAN), as well as other registered Compound/Recurve archers of Member Associations of the Federation of African Archery (FAA).

The prestigious tournament got underway on Saturday, 21 March with a 1440 Round. Each participant could gain a maximum of 1 440 points over a single round that was sub-divided into four different distances.

In the Compound Women’s category, Ilana Malan from the SKW Archery Club dominated the field by scoring an incredible 1 374 points – only 26 points shy of the elusive 1 400 point mark which is rarely achieved by any archers worldwide. This was a personal best for Malan who shot 1 342 points in the competition last year.

Louw Nel and Hendrik van Eeden were the other two outstanding shooters, as they collected 1 369 and 1 356 points respectively. This great show of skill gave Nel the overall win in the Compound Men’s division, while Van Eeden took top honors in the Compound Cadet Men’s category.

The opening event was followed by a 720 Round and Eliminations on Sunday. During qualification the competitors shoot 72 arrows, after which they are seeded according to their score, before they then shoot head-to-head in the elimination rounds.

In both events Malan and Nel were able to keep their momentum from the previous day to clinch the first places in their respective categories. Van Eeden put up a great performance in the Compound Men’s gold medal match, scoring 131 in the process, but Nel went one better, scoring 137 points to take the title. Sebastian Fechter took third place.

Meanwhile Elisabeth Taljaard’s 136 points weren’t enough to trouble Ilana Malan who won the gold medal in the Compound Women’s category with a score of 145 points. Third place went to Beanta Viviers.

Summary of winners:

Compound Men:

1. Louw Nel

2. Henrdrik van Eeden

3. Sebastian Fechter

Compound Women:

1. Ilana Malan

2. Elisabeth Taljaard

3. Beanta Viviers

Compound Cadet Men:

1. Warren Smit

2. Tertius Lambrechts

3. Heinrich Joubert

Recurve Men:

1. Gideon Brink

2. Dorian Esterhuizen

Recurve Cadet Men:

1. LizeMari de Bod

Cub Boys U/13:

1. Dirk de Bod

2. SW Kuhn

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