Only 15 and already so good: VAN TONGEREN

“He’s one for the future”, says Ron VAN DEN ROFF, head coach of the Netherlands.

Several perfect sets propelled the 15-year-old into the semi-finals today in Nimes. No shot at gold after that match-up, but Jan VAN TONGEREN will shoot for recurve junior men’s bronze.

“It’s just going well, I started to feel less nervous and get better and better round after round”, he says. “I will now do what I have to do.”

Despite watching and cheering on VAN TONGEREN on his march through the eliminations in the morning, the Dutch senior men all went out in the first round. Young Jan now carries the countries only hope of an individual recurve medal at these worlds.

This result does not come as a surprise, though: with eight years of practice behind him, Jan VAN TONGEREN has already hit 592 points a couple times in national competition.

One of these big scores – during Dutch selections for Nimes – actually qualified him for the senior team. But coaches enrolled him in the junior competition to help gain experience and “learn to win”.

“If Jan keeps shooting like this, he has a good chance of making the senior team. He is very good for his age”, says Dutch Olympian Rick VAN DER VEN.

The young archer feels as comfortable shooting indoors as outdoors. “My biggest goal at the moment is to qualify for the Youth Olympic Games.” Towards that, he is training hard at 60m rather than 70 – the competition distance in Nanjing. With such strong depth in the Netherlands national squad, he will have to fight hard for that spot.

The World Archery Indoor Championships are underway in Nimes, France until 2 March 2014. Check the event website, Facebook page and – see the schedule and who’s competing.

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