9 January 2006 - South Pacific countries participate in New Zealand Nationals

South Pacific countries participate in New Zealand Nationals

9 January 2006

In the first week of January by a long tradition Archery New Zealand (ANZ) met at their national championships. Clout shooting, Field Archery, a 3D event and Target Archery for Barebow, Recurve, Compound and Crossbow were part of the program. A double FITA round was on the main menu.

More than 110 athletes enjoyed the competition. ANZ invited other members of the Oceania Archery Confederation to take part in their Nationals and the New Zealand archers had to compete this year with colleagues from Australia, Fiji, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Tahiti and Tonga.

For most of the islands in the Pacific the big international archery tournaments are organized literally at the other side of the globe, which makes it difficult to attend. The New Zealand Nationals offer a good opportunity for the elite archers of the Oceania region to gain international experience.

The archers from New Zealand had a good level of performance, but they could not prevent this year that in the Men Recurve double FITA round the first five places were occupied by archers from overseas. Tahiti performed very well and New Caledonia participated with more than 20 young archers. Almost half of the number of participants was juniors and cadets. They were in general well prepared to the unpredictable weather conditions of New Zealand.

The next big events this year in the Oceania region are the Australia Nationals and the Oceania Championships.

André Korlaar

Oceania Development Officer