Archery Guyana close 2023 activities with Indoor Open

Archery Guyana closed their competitions for the year with their 2023 Year-End Indoor Open at the National Gymnasium.
Held from November 7-11, the tournament saw 36 archers – 13 women and 23 men – vying for the top spots in the ranking rounds over 4 days, leading up to the elimination and medal matches on the final day.
In the Men’s Barebow, Ryan Chichester topped the rankings with 421 points; followed by Jeewanram Persaud with 418 and Teemahall Lall with 396 as the top 3. Roshini Boodhoo topped the Women’s Barebow rankings with 397 points; Julie-Ann Williams followed with 380 and Alexandra Gomes with 278.
Daniel Elliott took the top-ranked spot in the Under-18 Barebow Men’s competition with 353 points. Saifullah Gani followed with 346 and Muhsin Wazidali with 276. In the Under-18 Barebow Women’s competition, Fatima Gani topped the ranking with 318 points, Arshia Naraine scored 189 and Summayyah Karim 172.
In the Men’s Recurve competition, Jeewanram Persaud’s dominance earned him 524 points. He was followed by Faraad Gani with 462, and Mehandra Chatargum with 440. In the Women’s Recurve, Julie-Ann Williams topped the rankings with 408 points, followed by Roshini Boodhoo with 375 and Bibi Salim with 296.

As the elimination matches commenced, tensions were high as the archers shot their best to move up in the brackets towards the medal matches. In the Barebow Men’s Elimination Round, Ryan Chichester, Jeewanram Persaud and Teemahall Lall were given byes to the Quarter Finals, as Ricardo Lall beat Afzal Karim 6-0, Faraad Gani beat Gregory McKoy 6-0, Mehandra Chatargum beat Jaza Percival 7-3, Richard Dookie beat Kenrick Cheeks 6-0, and Courtlee Rodrigues beat Naresh Sukhu 6-0 to advance to the Quarters.
Chichester then beat R. Lall 6-0 to advance to the Semi against Chatargum, who beat Gani 6-0. Lall beat Dookie 6-2 to advance to the Semi against Persaud, who also beat Rodrigues 6-2. In the Semi Finals, Chatargum beat Chichester 6-0, and Persaud beat Lall 6-0, to come up against each other in the gold medal match; while Chichester and Lall battled it out for the bronze. After 5 sets, Chichester emerged victorious with a 7-3 score to take the bronze medal.
The gold medal was also hotly contested, with Persaud claiming a 6-4 victory in a 5-set match against Chatargum, who settled for the silver.
In the Barebow Women’s event, Roshini Boodhoo and Julie- Ann Williams were given byes to the semi-final. Bibi Salim beat Melesa Ramnarine 6-0 to take on Boodhoo in the Semi, and Naudia Maraj beat Alexandra Gomes 6-5 to take on Williams in the Semi.

Boodhoo beat Salim 6-0 and Williams beat Maraj 6-0 to advance to the final, as Salim took on Maraj for the bronze, which she won. The gold medal match was hotly contested by Williams and Boodhoo, but Williams emerged winner after a 1-arrow shoot-off as Boodhoo’s time ran out. Williams won 6-5 to take home the gold, while Boodhoo took the silver.
The Barebow Under-18 men’s event also saw some exciting matches, with Daniel Elliott beating Mehran Hamid 6-0 and Daniel Cox beating Ismaeel Bacchus 6-0. The winners moved to the semifinals, where Elliott beat Cox 7-3 after 5 sets.
Muhsin Wazidali beat Zico Teixeira 6-0 to advance against Saifullah Gani, who beat Asif Rahaman in the Semifinals, where Gani emerged with a 6-2 score to move into the Final against Elliott. In the bronze medal match, Wazidali won 6-0 against Cox, while Elliott and Gani fought for the gold. After another 5-set match, Gani won 6-4 to take home the gold medal, and Elliott took home the silver.
In the Barebow Under-18 Women’s match, Fatima Gani was given a bye to the semifinals, while in the Quarter finals, Ashana Naraine beat Alisha Sakoor 6-0, Summayyah Karim beat Nataliya Pollard 6-0, and Arshia Naraine beat Jaquiza Chase 6-0. In the semifinals, Gani beat Ashana Naraine 6-0 and Arshia Naraine beat Chase 6-0 to advance to the finals.
In the medal matches, Ashana Naraine beat Summayyah Karim 6-5 in a 1-arrow shoot-off for the bronze, as Fatima Gani beat Arshia Naraine 6-0 to take the gold while Naraine settled for silver.
The last matches of the day were the Recurve Men’s and Women’s competitions, which were full of excitement as they battled for the top medal spots. Jeewanram Persaud got a bye to the semifinal, while the other 6 men competed.
Naresh Sukhu beat Jaza Percival 6-0, Mehandra Chatargum beat Afzal Karim 6-0, and Faraad Gani beat Sean Duncan 6-2, causing each winner to advance to the semifinals, where Persaud beat Sukhu 7-1 in a 4-set match and Gani beat Chatargum 6-5 to move on to the gold medal match. In the bronze medal match, Chatargum beat Sukhu 7-1 to take the bronze.
The Gold medal match was also a 5-set match, as Persaud beat Gani 7-3 to leave Gani with the silver.
Only 3 women contested the Recurve Women’s competition, so Julie-Ann Williams went thru to the finals with a bye as Bibi Salim and Roshini Boodhoo shot it out. Boodhoo eventually beat Salim 6-2 to move to the finals against Williams in the gold medal match, as Salim copped the bronze medal.
The gold medal match saw Boodhoo and Williams battling it out for 5 sets, whereafter Boodhoo emerged with a 6-2 victory to take the gold and Williams the silver.
After the end of the medal matches, patrons and competitors were given a special treat, a demonstration of compound archery, which is one of the other disciplines of target archery. Michael Chatargum and Zahir Zamaluddin put on the demonstration shooting at the 18-metre indoor distance, after which the medal ceremony was conducted. The medals were presented by Archery Guyana President Mrs Vidushi Persaud-McKinnon, Treasurer and Continental Judge Mr Robert Singh, Competition Committee Chairman Mr Jeewanram Persaud, and Vice Chairman Mr Umasankar Madray.
A special presentation was also made to the judges in the form of “The President’s Appreciation Award”.
The Board of Directors of Archery Guyana wishes to acknowledge and thank the Competitions Committee and Judges Committee for their hard work and dedication to the sport, affiliate clubs for their participation, and for the usual kind support of the National Sports Commission, Guyana Beverages Inc., Mr. Samuel Arjoon, and the Management of Oasis Water.