1 May 2007 - Africa represented in the World Cup

Africa represented in the World Cup Varese - 1 May 2007   An Ivory Coast delegation arrived in Varese, and after some nice lendings of equipment from the Slovenian and Italian teams, the President of the Ivory Coast Federation, Ousmanne Yannick Cissé, took part in the qualifications in Recurve Men. We gathered his impressions.   How was your day? Weather was merciful, the opponents really nice, the competition… a bit tough for me, with a bow that was not big enough for me, I lost some arrows (begun with five and finished with three). It was simply a wonderful experience for me, but the Ivory Coast is a bit more focused on 3D.   We are going to try to go to the 3D World Championships in Hungary this year with some youngsters, so they can see and forge themselves with experience.   What will you do back home? I will inform the Ivory Coast population of what we have done here, the important thing is not that the president shot, but that the country was represented, and that there is not only football that counts in Ivory Coast.   Archery is my passion, I don’t hesitate to invest big resources to support the sport, because most of the youngsters I assist are from the streets. My biggest project is to set up a holidays camp, based essentially on archery, in order to promote the sport, not only in Ivory Coast but also in Africa.   There must be some black spots among those white spots so international archery would really be represented. And I was very proud to be the only black man among all the archers, although I think it is really lacking.   The fact of being helped by so many countries, it deeply touched me, I had a bow from a Slovenian archer, a quiver from a volunteer of the competition, and the rest of the material by some Italian archers. But not only in an equipment way they helped me, but also in a moral way by supporting me, an Iranian archer came to me to congratulate me and support me, the Austrians and the archers on my target gave me some good technical advice, and this big solidarity between archers just affected me. I really thank them all from the bottom of my heart. They were all fantastic.   I would like to develop archery in Africa so that in competitions, the personal scores would always been broken and push the African archers beyond their limits.   I have a lot of satisfaction to have shot for my country, also personnally and for my kids, I am very happy and I had lots of pleasure. It was my first World Cup, but I shot as usually, without pressure. Now, the kids saw what it was, and they are very motivated for the future.   We are going to try to participate in the 3D World Championships in Hungary, in the Outdoor World Championships in Germany, and in the World Cup in Dover this year.   I would like to ask to the National Federations who have equipment to throw away, to give, in a bad shape, or that they simply don’t use any more, to send them to Ivory Coast, by contacting me prior to the shipping. I would be so thankful.   I would like to thank deeply all the countries that helped and supported me during the competition, it will be unforgettable memories for me.   Chantal Steiner FITA Communication