Archery Guyana looking to grow with Heritage Games

Once again Archery Guyana’s collaboration with the Ministry of Indigenous People’s Affairs concluded with a very successful archery competition at this year’s Heritage Games at the Everest Cricket Club Ground.
During the Heritage Games, there was the obvious interest from patrons coming from near and far. There was an overall total participation of 53 competitors, most of whom were in the Men’s division; 35 for the Men’s Division, 10 for the Ladies Division, three for the Youth Male 12-17, two for the girls Under 12 Division, and three for the boys Under 12 Division.
Saturday’s qualifying rounds began with the Toshaos shoot-off with Joel Fredericks, Aubrey Samuels, David Henry, Colin Adrian and Lennox Shuman taking to the line. Thirteen males eventually made it to the Semi-finals, while 3 ladies, 3 Youth Males and 3 Under 12 children shot straight to the finals.
The 13 qualifying men through to Semi-finals were: Ivor Williams, Joel Fredericks, Lennox Shuman, Colin Adrian, David Henry, Winston Baird, Roy Shuman, Nyron Pearson, Calisto Martin, Deon Andrews, Horacio Barboza, Oswald Hussein, and Shawn Raphael. The 3 Ladies through to finals were: Brenette Gordon, Aliyah Gordon and Samantha Paulino. In the Youth Male Division the 3 boys through to the finals were: Joshua Sandwell, Keon Kattow and Michael Hing and the 3 for the Under12 Division were: Paige Fernandes, Dolphlundren Shuman and James Marco.
Sunday’s exciting Semi-finals and Finals began with the first arrows being loosed by Minister of Social Cohesion Dr George Norton and Minister within the Ministry of Indigenous People’s Affairs Valerie Garrido-Lowe.
For the Men’s and Ladies finals, targets were set at 3 different distances (10, 15 & 25m). After which each archer had to shoot at 3 moving targets rolled along the ground. The 3 Men’s Finalists were Ivor Williams of Moruka, Region 1 (29pts), Winston Baird of Campbelltown, Region 8 (23pts) and Horacio Barboza of Intac, Region 8 (17pts). Only Ivor Williams was able to hit the moving target, drawing loud applause from the crowd.

The ladies saw mother and daughter Brenette and Aliyah Gordon of West Demerara, Region 3, vying for the top spot, as Samantha Paulino of St Ignatius Village, Region 9 was unable to compete in the finals, which automatically earned her 3rd place with 0 points. Aliyah came out on top with 8 points to her mom’s 1 point.

The Youth Males 12-17 which was hotly contested was won by Joshua Sandwell of Pakuri, Region 4 who scored 7pts, followed by Michael Hing of Georgetown, region 4 with 4pts and Keon Kattow of Pakuri.
In the Children’s (under 12) category which was shot at 15m distance, Dolphlundren Shuman of Pakuri, Region 4 gained an automatic 3rd place, as only James Marco and Paige Fernandes were present at the final. Paige Fernandes of Georgetown, Region 4 gained 16 points to win 1st place while James Marco came in 2nd with 1 point.
Archery Guyana is happy to have been a part of the Indigenous Heritage Games for the third year and looks forward to working with the Ministry in the coming years and in the future development of this most exciting sport.