Immense natural talent displayed at first-ever Re-curve Archery shoot

ARCHERY Guyana’s (AG) Region 9 Competition 2022, sponsored by Oasis Waters/Guyana Beverages Inc., an overseas-based group, Friends of Old, was completed on the September 26.

The presentation of the medals was done at the opening of the Region 9 Heritage celebrations at the St Ignatius Village. The medals were presented by Prime Minister Mark Phillips, the Prime Minister’s wife Mignon Bowen-Phillips, Regional Executive Officer Karl Singh, Mayor of Lethem Mr John Macedo and the Toshao of St Ignatius, Quarrie and Kumu Villages, Mr Wilson Laurentino.

The archery competition began on September 24 at St Ignatius Village’s Wilson Laurentino Sports Ground. The ranking produced a match play whereby both Jad and Junior got byes to the semifinals while elimination match 1 was between Octavious and Ryan with Octavious getting ahead of Ryan.

The second elimination match between John and Ted resulted in John getting ahead of Ted. The first semi-finals between Jad and Octavious was a nail-biter with both archers achieving 5 set points.

In the decider of a one-arrow shoot-off Jad got ahead of Octavious, placing Jad in the finals. Junior bulldozed John out of the second semifinal with 6 set points to zero.

This win placed him in the finals against Jad. John and Octavious then competed for the bronze medal with John getting the better of Octavious. The highly anticipated and closely contested final between Junior and Jad resulted in Junior winning the gold and Jad the silver.

The match seesawed between the two archers with Jad scoring the first 2 set points, after which Junior won 4 straight set points. Jad came back to even the score at 4 set points. Junior, however, went on to score the next 2 set points, bringing him to the winning total of 6 set points.

The medals were awarded at the prestigious opening ceremony of the Region 9 Heritage Celebrations of 2022. This event was attended by high-ranking government, regional and village officials and administrators.

The audience also included cultural representatives and many fans from the surrounding villages. National coach Robert Singh made opening remarks which included pointing out the similarities and differences between Traditional Archery and the Olympic Recurve Archery.

He noted that the principles are the same but the Olympic Style allowed for specialised equipment and the use of skilled biomechanics that allowed the archer to shoot at longer distances with more consistency and accuracy.

Singh also included a plea for financial support at the government, regional, village and general public levels to develop archery within the region, to produce champions that can represent Guyana at a National, International and ultimately at the prestigious Olympic Games levels.

In the words of coach Robert Singh, “The residents of Region 9 are born with archery skills, it is in their blood, it is in their DNA.”

The 5 Cadet archers competing were: Chris DaSilva, Kevin DaSilva, Fernando Adrian, Roland Gomes and Ezra Hamilton.

The competition was a 10-metre ranking round consisting of 5 ends of 6 arrows. Results were:
Ezra Hamilton – gold, Kevin Da Silva – silver, Roland Gomes – bronze
The Men’s competition finals: 1. Ryan Gittens, 2. Octavious Hendricks, 3. Jad Juan, 4. Ted Juan, 5. Junior Martin, 6. John Yow.

The rankings, eliminations and finals were all keenly contested. Out of a possible 300 points, the results for the high scoring and closely contested rankings were: 1. Jad Juan 203 points – gold, 2. Junior Martin 203 points – silver 3. Octavia Hendricks 198 points – bronze