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Namibia: Namibia Hosts World Archery Championships
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The Namibian (Windhoek)
11 April 2008
Posted to the web 11 April 2008
Windhoek
More than 250 archers from all over the world are currently competing in the World Field Archery Championships at the Heja Lodge, just outside Windhoek.
Archers from 13 countries, including Great Britain, Germany, Estonia, New Zealand, Australia, Switzerland, the United States, South Africa and of course, Namibia, have been in action at the World Field Archery Championships, which started on Monday and will be concluded with the prize giving ceremony tomorrow.
The biennial event is hosted on a different continent every two years and since it was Africa's turn, Namibia placed a bid along with South Africa to host the tournament.
Namibia won the bid and has put up a great show, according to Frank Bockmuhl of the Archery Association of Namibia.
"Our guests have had a wonderful time and the feedback we received is that it is one of the best ever events yet staged," he said.
Bockmuhl decided to invite some San Bushmen to compete in their own tournament to add an authentic Namibian touch to the World Championships.
"I first saw the San Bushmen with their traditional bow and arrows at the Living Museum Traditional Village in the Tsumkwe area.
I invited them to participate at the World Championships and they have thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
Most of their traditional bows and arrows have however broken and we had to purchase new equipment for them," he said.
Archers compete in a variety of categories, which are determined on the type of bows they use and the distances to their targets.
Archers in the Bowhunter categories don't use levelling devices, while the Limited Class shoot with their fingers and the Unlimited Class use a release aid.
The freestyle bowhunters use a telescope through which they can adjust to different distances and their scores at this level are invariably very high.
Namibia has excelled in world archery in recent years, winning more than 90 medals at international events since 2004.
In 2006 Francois Marais became a junior world champion while Henk van Blerk became a junior world champion the following year.
Namibia's Beatrix van der Merwe also won a silver medal at the 2007 Bowhunter World Championships in Switzerland.
Namibia well placed At the end of the third day's shooting, South Africa, with the biggest delegation of more than 90 archers, were leading most of the categories, but Namibia was well placed to win some medals in a few categories.
In the hotly contested Freestyle Unlimited category, South Africa had taken the top eight positions with Nico Benade in the lead with 1 650 points out of a possible 1 680. Namibia's Johan Grobler was lying ninth on 1 618 points, with compatriot Dirk Bockmuhl lying tenth with 1 608 points. Namibia's Oliver Rohrmuller was leading the Junior Male Freestyle Unlimited category with 1 632 points, followed by Christiaan van den Heever of South Africa on 1 628 points and Namibia's Henk van Blerk on 1 621 points.
Jenny Wittstock of South Africa led the Adult Female Freestyle Unlimited category on 1 602 points, while Namibia's Theresa Grobler was lying sixth on 1 516 points. Kobus Clarence of South Africa was leading the Adult Male Bowhunter Unlimited category with 1 633 points, while Namibia's Mare van der Merwe was lying sixth on 1 610 points. Angela Brown of South Africa was leading the Adult Female Bowhunter Unlimited class on 1 562 points, with Namibia's Beatrix van der Merwe just behind her on 1 560 points.
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The complete results of all the classes can be seen at the World Championships' official website at www.wfac2008.com - Namibia Sport
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