BOITUMELO KOKWE
TuksArchery is the UP archery club that offers two forms of target archery, namely rebound and compound archery – the difference between the two being their bows. Archery can be classified into different categories being field archery, target archery, traditional archery, bowhunting, bowfishing, mounted archery, and 3D target archery.
Competitiveness is a major factor in archery. This is being demonstrated through world championships, national championships, local tournaments, and international and local rankings of archers and teams. World rankings, released by the World Archery Foundation (WAF) in June, reveal the competitive nature attached to archery. The WAF ranks the best archers in the world according to different categories, such as recurve men and women, and compound men and women.
The rankings also demonstrate the competitiveness which individuals possess in the sport: one of the competitive individuals being Danelle Wentzel, a member of TuksArchery, who was ranked 11th in the world female compound category of 50 metres.This is not the first time the rankings have revealed Wentzel’s competitive abilities in her arching career. In 2019, Wentzel became the first South African archer to win gold at the Hyundai Archery World cup in Antalya, Turkey, and Wentzel also qualified for the World Cup finals held in Moscow, Russia.
“Competitiveness is a major factor in archery“
In an article written by TuksSport in June 2019, Wentzel went on to speak about how “… excited [she] is about [her performance] as [she] managed to be consistent throughout the competition”. She further stated that “archery is a very unpredictable sport”.Wentzel started archery in 2008, and in 2010 she participated in her first South African National Archery Association (SANAA) competition, an outdoor championship. She won the International Field Archery Association (IFAA) World Field Championship held in Germany, which was her first international competition.
The TuksArchery team has other notable players who have also represented South Africa at an international level – such as Reuben Brent- Meek and Jeanine van Kradenburg. Brent-Meek and van Kradenburg won the compound mixed final as a team at the World Cup Tournament in 2019. Their win was the first of its nature in South African Archery. Another notable player for the TuksArchery team is Christiaan de Klerk. In 2019, he was selected to represent South Africa at two World Championships and at a World Cup Tournament.