Kimberley experienced an exciting first on the weekend that rang in July when the Africa Genesis Archery Federation Tournament (AGAFT) was hosted here.
At this event 48 of South Africa’s top archers competed virtually against 144 others from Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe.
The South African junior and senior team achieved gold, while the development team won bronze.
South Africa was named the tournament champion for 2022.
The archers battled it out for two days, shooting 150 arrows each in three bull’s-eye and two 3D competition knockout rounds. The total average score for each archer was used to determine the winners.
Two South Africans who did their country proud are Jurgens Becker, the archer with the highest average tournament score in the 3D competition, and Kayleigh van Helden, top scorer in the bull’s-eye competition – achieving 298/300.
Second to South Africa in the junior team category were Zimbabwe, with Namibia in third place. The team from Botswana was second in the senior category and Namibia earned another third place. The development team from this country however took top honours, while Zimbabwe was second.
The individual highest achievers of the development team were Rizwaan Alli in first place with 271.8/300, Zuraidah Allie second with 260.4/300, and Xolisa Bottoman 3rd with a tournament average of 259.4/300.
Individual achievers of the senior team are Michael le Roux in first place with 288, Luther de Koker second with 287/300 and third, also with 287/300, Jurgens Becker (when the same score is achieved, the highest scorer in the bull’s-eye competition wins).
In the junior teams category the highest achievers were De Wet Naude in first place with 289.4, Kayleigh van Helden second with 288.6/300 and Annelie Pieterse third with 287/300.
De Wet Naude achieved the overall best score with 289.6/300, Kayleigh van Helden was second with 288.6 and Michael le Roux was third with 288/300.
