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Sport

ARFAC 2019: True aim Achievement for Protea Archers

kwevoel

The recent ARFAC 2019 ( African Regional Field Archery Competiition) held in Kafue, Zambia, was a true aim achievement for the PROTEA TEAM of Archers.

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The 31 South African Archers at ARFAC 2019 in Kafue, Zambia. All Archer’s, parents and friends aimed high for this stunning event. “We hit bull’s eye with the Archery family!”

The PROTEA TEAM and the rest of the South African Archery group, were welcomed by the dignitaries of Kafue, Zambia, where the 31 archers from South Africa truly impacted this event as the Protea Archers brought home a stunning total of 12 Protea medals. This consisted of eight individual gold, two individual silver and two individual bronze medals.
With twelve uncapped South African Archers who made up the rest of the South African team competing at the competition who also received medals, South Africa dominated on the medal front.

A big thank you to Petrus van Breda for organizing the Protea gala evening at The Butcher’s Grill, Pretoria. Here he is with Bernard Mentz, Junior Male Freestyle Unlimited.

ARFAC 2019 had a total of 77 archers who finished this three-day challenge of this gruelling competition which took place during 29 June till 2 July 2019.
The team also expressed their highest regard for the precision and the beautiful spirit in which Gustav Wessels, Chair person- Zambia Archery, and his team conducted this ARFAC competition.

Gold for South Africa! Our African queen ms Bianca Kleynhans (Adult female Bowhunter Unlimited), from Thabazimbi, South Africa.

Zambia, as the host country, excelled with an extremely technical course, thanks to the owner of the farm, Richard Monge. This memorable course lay out took competitors up- and downhill with little room for error on the part of the archer.
The rocky hills made for fantastic view of Sable and Nyala at the watering holes. Even in full draw, the ever present cry of the fish eagle, was a welcoming sound.

The course was technically challenging with steep uphill and downhill shots. Day 1 with Field targets had some archers jumping with joy on personal best scores but a few archers really had trying times on this difficult course. Day 2 saw the clan of Proteas pushing themselves to even higher scores. Day 3 with the animal round (animal targets) had beautiful full scores with a few of the Protea Archers.

Kobus Barnard, Adult Male Bowhunter Unlimited, in action during the ARFAC 2019 competition. Kobus (Bloemfontein) got first place in his division.

The team’s young archers kept their wit and were pleasantly surprised with great scores and setting African records.

Teammates Dané Bylieveldt ( Junior Female Bowhunter Unlimited) set a new African record in the 2 day field and hunter round and Canell Jackson also set a new African record.

The host country, Zambia, went out of their way to accommodate the South African team and to help with any queries. They even set up shop with minor equipment to assist with bow breakages.

The South Africans showed their competency by importing Dale Jaeger, a rare breed of walking encyclopaedia for archery, to their entourage. Dale assisted with his knowledge with any quality or equipment questions.

Ms Marietjie Frayer, IFAA ( International Field Archery Association) world representative was ever present. She conducted inspection on the course and handled all legal matters. Some minor rulings were made and handled internally with the junior males on the team.

This historic event for Zambia was recorded by a local television crew who tried to capture the beautiful memories of ARFA  2019 in Zambia by produced a short video reporting on the competition

The team expressed their thanks to SASCOC for awarding them this accolade. They did South Africa proud. True aim for true Protea’s.