Namibian archers win silver at AG
Quinn Redding and Adriaan Grobler finished second in the mixed team recurve competition on the last day of the archery championships at the African Games (AG).
Redding and Grobler lost 2-6 in the final play-off to Reem Mansour and Youssof Tolba of Egypt in the mixed team event at the Moulay Rachid National Sports Centre in Sale, Morocco, on Friday.
The 17-year-old Redding and 18-year-old Grobler showed impressive performances throughout the competition, in which they competed for the first time.
To reach the final, Redding was on fine form as she topped the women's African ranking with 629 points in the 70-metre distance shoots ahead of Mansour of Egypt, who came second with 622 points.
In the male category, Grobler finished in ninth position out of 38 participants.
The Namibians' debut performance at the AG gained them second spot in the mixed team events recurve of 1231 points from 12 countries at the championships.
In the round of eight in the elimination battle they got a bye to the next round, where they met their neighbours, South Africa. The Namibian team had little work as they outclassed their counterparts from South Africa with a 5-1 score and booked themselves a spot in the semi-finals where they met Ivory Coast.
They also defeated Ivory Coast 6-2 for a spot in the final, where they lost to Egypt.
Speaking to Nampa after the event, team coach Frank Redding said he was proud of his young athletes' performance at the Games.
“I cannot ask more from these archers because they came to these Games for the first time and outperformed themselves. It's really good to see that we can stand our ground with the best in African,” he said.
Redding added that they missed out on the Olympic qualifying spot but they are still hopeful of representing the country at the global show piece one day.
“Our goal is to have these athletes represent the country at the 2024 Olympic Games. Despite us not winning the gold, I am happy to see our young athletes in the final and we should not rush them as time is still on their side to grow in the sport,” he said.
- NAMPA
Redding and Grobler lost 2-6 in the final play-off to Reem Mansour and Youssof Tolba of Egypt in the mixed team event at the Moulay Rachid National Sports Centre in Sale, Morocco, on Friday.
The 17-year-old Redding and 18-year-old Grobler showed impressive performances throughout the competition, in which they competed for the first time.
To reach the final, Redding was on fine form as she topped the women's African ranking with 629 points in the 70-metre distance shoots ahead of Mansour of Egypt, who came second with 622 points.
In the male category, Grobler finished in ninth position out of 38 participants.
The Namibians' debut performance at the AG gained them second spot in the mixed team events recurve of 1231 points from 12 countries at the championships.
In the round of eight in the elimination battle they got a bye to the next round, where they met their neighbours, South Africa. The Namibian team had little work as they outclassed their counterparts from South Africa with a 5-1 score and booked themselves a spot in the semi-finals where they met Ivory Coast.
They also defeated Ivory Coast 6-2 for a spot in the final, where they lost to Egypt.
Speaking to Nampa after the event, team coach Frank Redding said he was proud of his young athletes' performance at the Games.
“I cannot ask more from these archers because they came to these Games for the first time and outperformed themselves. It's really good to see that we can stand our ground with the best in African,” he said.
Redding added that they missed out on the Olympic qualifying spot but they are still hopeful of representing the country at the global show piece one day.
“Our goal is to have these athletes represent the country at the 2024 Olympic Games. Despite us not winning the gold, I am happy to see our young athletes in the final and we should not rush them as time is still on their side to grow in the sport,” he said.
- NAMPA
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