Archery fired Team SA into action on Thursday at The World Games after competing in the compound qualification round at the Qinglong Lake Park in Chengdu, China. The archery squad consists of Hendre Verhoef and Jeanine Kradenburg, who both rank No2 in South Africa, as well as the men’s No2, Septimus Cilliers.
Verhoef had the highest qualifying position, scoring 705 to finish 11th out of 26. This result will see him take on the 22nd seed from the host nation, Ai Xinliang, and his impressive performance in qualifying inspires confidence that he will progress to the round of 16.
The 17-year-old’s day was far from finished as he was given the honour of being a flagbearer for Team SA at the opening ceremony held at the Tianfu International Conference Center.
Cilliers finished level on score with Verhoef, positioning himself as 12th seed. The 46-year-old won two bronze medals at the 2010 Commonwealth Games and his qualifying result shows that he remains a formidable competitor amongst the field. He will be facing the Puerto Rican Jean Pizarro in the round of 32 as the favourite to progress further.
Van Kradenburg competed in the women’s qualifier, where she came 21st with a score of 679. The 46-year-old will face Parneet Kaur from India for a spot in the top sixteen.
The next round will take place tomorrow and start at 3.15am SA time and Team SA’s three finest archers will be confident in their progression to the next stage and be looking to improve on their performances on the opening day of action.
Words by Mark Lemke
