Programme Director, Mr Steve Kendrick
President of SANIFAA, Mr Stefan van der Linde
President of IFAA, Mr Loet Smit
Second Vice President of SASCOC, Mr Les Williams
Archers
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
Thank you for the invitation to this medal awards ceremony of the 2011 World Indoor Archery Championships.
It is my pleasure to address you this afternoon. To our international archers, coaches, support staff and dignitaries, welcome to our shores and the Capital City of our beloved country, South Africa. We trust that you have enjoyed the festival of archery as well as tours and visits to the varied wonders we have to offer. I trust that you have enjoyed our delectable South African cuisine.
For those of you who have made your first visit to South Africa, I am certain you are overwhelmed by what you have seen and experienced here. South Africans are very friendly and we are famous for our warm hospitality. We trust that you will feel the spirit of Ubuntu that we share with all our guests.
We are delighted that SANIFAA was approached by the International Field Archery Association to host the 2011 World Indoor Archery Championships in South Africa. This is the first time in the history of the IFAA and SANIFAA that a World Indoor Archery Championship is being hosted on the African Continent and in South Africa.
Thank you for entrusting us with the opportunity to host this event, allowing us to showcase South Africa, yet again. I have learnt that the World Indoor Archery Championships has been held every two years and the last one was hosted by Argentina.
Bachkground to World indoor archery Championships
Ladies and gentlemen, for the benefit of those who may not know, allow me to touch briefly on the background to this championship. There are 260 participants from 14 different IFAA member countries. The Countries participating are: South Africa, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, England, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Namibia, Scotland, Switzerland, and the United States of America.
There are 44 different competing shooting styles.South Africa is represented by 212 archers and competes in 33 different shooting styles. The youngest participating archer is 10 years old and the oldest is 70 years. Now isn’t that remarkable.
It really demonstrates the value of archery as a lifetime sport activity.
SANIFAA successes
In 2010 SANIFAA sent a team of 36 archers to Germany to compete in the 2010 World Field Archery Championships. I am told that we won 13 Gold Medals, 6 Silver Medals, and 5 Bronze Medals, with a total Medal count of 24. We achieved 7 New World Champions, and 2 Team Style World Champions. Thirty six South African archers participated in the 2010 World Filed Archery Championships, of which 24 were Protea Team archers and 12 SANIFAA Team archers.
A touring contingent of 40 South Africans made this group the largest group attending an international field event. Koos de Wet in the AMFU style obtained the highest total tournament score.
Danelle Wentzel set two NEW World Records in the Field and Hunter round. Dimitri Amado also set two NEW World Records in the Field and Hunter round. In the AMBU style South Africa were ranked in the top 10 archers of the world.
Ladies and gentlemen, in 2011 SANIFAA senT a team of 14 archers to Australia to compete in the 2011 World Bow Hunter Championships.
South Africa competed in 6 shooting styles and won three gold mMedals, four silver medals, and two bronze medals, with a total medal count of nine. In the AMBU and AMFU style division South Africa were again ranked in the top 10 3D archers of the world.
Fourteen (14) South African archers participated in the 2011 World Bow Hunter Championships of which 11 were Protea Team archers and 3 SANIFAA team archers.
Conclusion
Ladies and gentlemen, SANIFAA clearly has a good overall development plan. I am especially happy that it is also aligned to, and addresses Sport and Recreation South Africa’s strategic priorities.
We remain steadfast in our vision of “an active and winning nation” and to achieve this, our focus remains on increasing the levels of sport and recreation participation as well as achieving success at an international level. No doubt, you will notice the fit between our priorities.
We all believe if you do not have healthy active participation at grass roots level, archery will not be a sustainable sport in years to come. In the past three decades SANIFAA have moved from a handful of archers to a strong pool of over two hundred competitive archers.
This is good evidence of increasing the number of participants.
Ladies and gentlemen, whilst Government continues to invest in accessible community infrastructure, the non governmental institutions, particularly the Federations and educational institutions need to be involved and partner with government to ensure that there are sustainable sport development programmes.SRSA would in this financial year be engaging the Municipalities and Federations and other key stakeholders to work out appropriate responses and solutions to challenges in the provision and management of sport and recreation infrastructure for all our people.
On behalf of the Ministry of Sport and Recreation, I want to take this opportunity to congratulate all participants in this championship. To those of you who will be receiving medals, our heartiest congratulations and best wishes.
Let us give them a round of applause. It is always a very proud moment for any country when its national team lifts their World Cup. It unites the nation and builds social cohesion like no other human activity can. I wish this championship will also grow in magnitude like the Rugby World Cup one day.
Ladies and Gentlemen, this presents just a brief insight to the possible contribution of this event and the sport and recreation sector to our National imperatives.
The impact that it can have on higher-level outcomes, such as sport tourism, as well as inclusivity and representivity in our teams at all levels as well as the spin-offs thereof for social cohesion and national pride remains endless.
I thank you for your keen attention!
