Robert Gibson, from left, winner of the Male Recurve Bow poses with other winners in the Stag National Outdoor Archery Championships, Patricia Price, the Female Recurve Bow champion, Ana Kanhai, champ of the Female Compound Bow and Rakesh Sookoo, the Male Compound Bow winner at the Michael P Mc Kenzie Archery Range in Chaguaramas from October 3-4.

Two national records were broken at the T&T Target Archery Federation’s (TTTAF) Stag National Outdoor Archery Championships, which was held at the Michael P Mc Kenzie Archery Range in Chaguaramas at the beginning of the month. George Vire broke his own record at 30 meters by adding another point to make it 356. He shot 355 in the Dominican Republic three years ago which earned him a gold medal at an international tournament. Robert Gibson broke the record for the 12-arrow match in the Recurve Bow with a score of 105, increasing it from 101.

Gibson and Dean Wilkins shared honours among the men, the former winning the Male Recurve Bow Category on the Sunday and the latter topping the same competition the previous day. There was a couple of upsets in the Male Recurve Bow category on the Sunday but it was Gibson who took the title, as he won the final match 95 to 90 against second placed Wilkins. Nikhil Kanhai finished third, after winning the sudden death arrow following a tied match. The Male Recurve Bow Category on Saturday was dominated by Wilkins, who won all four distance event medals. He scored 1165 which put him as first seed. Gibson ranked second with 1109 and youngster Nikhil Kanhai ranked third with 1059.

On the first day of shooting, the Male Compound Bow Category was topped by Rakesh Sookoo, who amassed a score of 1322 gaining gold medals at 90 and 70 meter events and silver medals at the 50 and 30 meter events. Vire and Hasmath Ali ranked second and third with 1299 and 1297 respectively. In the women’s category, Patricia Price topped the group with Nazimine Roopnarine and Nelisa Singh ranking second and third respectively. Ana Kanhai topped the Female Compound Bow category. Price also kept her lead and took the Female Recurve Bow title just edging out Roopnarine into second place scoring 64 to 60. Singh took third place and young Ana Kanhai took home the Female Compound Bow Trophy.

The Male Compound Bow archers put on quite a show in the elimination rounds but it was Rakesh Sookoo who managed to hold onto his lead finishing with a strong 115 points out of a possible 120 to take the Stag Championship Trophy. Vire took the silver and Hasmath Ali the bronze.

Results

Recurve Bow Male
Gold – Robert Gibson
Silver – Dean Wilkins
Bronze – Nikhil Kanhai

Compound Bow Male
Gold – Rakesh Sookoo
Silver – George Vire
Bronze – Hasmath Ali

Recurve Bow Female
Gold – Patricia Price
Silver – Nazimine Roopnarine
Bronze – Nelisa Singh

Compound Bow Female
Gold – Ana Kanhai