By Chris Elliott….
It’s been a hard week with lots of news and reviews arriving for publication and a number of personal issues to deal with and it’s only now that I can sit and reflect on last week’s Lefke Archery Competition which I attended.
Firstly Osman and Aysen Tez of the Girne A.A. Archery Team (GATE) club said as you have had problems with your car come with us which was nice of them and we were able to learn more about each other whilst traveling and as they were the main organisers of the competition, they became very busy supervising the setup of the competition when we arrived at the Lefke 16 August Victory Stadium where the competition was being held.
Now in the past few weeks, I had been practicing and shooting on an increased 30m range and wanted to test myself but when we were all ready to start the competition Osman Tez said to me you are going to shoot 20m which is not a problem apart from my bow sight needing to be reset to suit and I was helped by one of our instructors Mustafa Bakkal which was achieved through some test shots and adjustment.
So what a great day it was with various club teams shooting Recurve, Compound, and Turkish bows in their individual groups.
I enjoyed taking part in the competition with improved accuracy on every 3 arrows shot although my right knee became more painful and stiff the longer I stood and walked on it but that’s another challenge to overcome.
So at the end of the competition, it was great to watch the various awards being presented to both the adult and children competitors, and to my surprise my name was called and I was dragged out of my chair and presented to noisy applause and cheering with a medal by the Lefke mayor and Lefke archery club officials which was so nice of them.
So very happy we all departed and went for a meal and then a late night coffee stop with a local family before driving back to Girne and I must express my appreciation to the many people who helped me and shared their day with me despite at times language difficulties and they were all such wonderful friendly and caring people.
Having recovered somewhat, I went back to a Wednesday training session at the Girne Hunting and Shooting Sports Club at the Raif Rauf Denktaş Shooting Range in Karaman and with help from instructor Murat Cogun my bow sight was reset and then with his continued advice it was my endless battle and competition with myself on every arrow drawn and shot to maintain a perfect body form which results in greater accuracy.
When I watch many videos of Olympic archery I see both incredible perfection of shooting and at times off line shots so all archers strive for the ultimate perfection and have to keep trying to maintain their performance. It’s a real challenge that I enjoy so much!
With thanks to the members of the Girne A.A. Archery Team (GATE) club for the photos they shared on their group WhatsApp page and some I have are shown here
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