Zimbabwe’s Junior Archers Earn Silver In Rustenburg

Zimbabwe’s National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP) archery team of 16 students finished second this month at the All Star Africa Archery Tournament held at The Rustenburg Civic Center in South Africa on October 10-11. The international tournament, hosted by NASP South Africa) was contested by Botswana, Namibia,South Africa and Zimbabwe as well as two development teams from South Africa and Center-Shot, a faith based archery club.Zimbabwe defeated both the teams from Botswana and Namibia to claim the Silver Medal in the country standings, losing by 15 points to SA3 who won the entire competition. The Zimbabwean team was noted for their ability to punch above their weight. Many members of the Zimbabwean team logged personal best scores, with Daniel Jackson achieving his best scores yet and being rated as the 14th best archer in the competition.

Zimbabwe’s second place finishing is impressive considering that the national team draws players from only nine schools at present in the NASP program, whereas the sixteen player team from SA is drawn from the top performers from 130 participating schools. The top South African archers, many who shot near perfect scores were a great inspiration to the Zimbabwean students who are relatively newer to the sport.NASP Zimbabwe has already confirmed their attendance at the same tourney next year, not only to defend their silver position but also motivated to contend for the gold.