Local para archer crowned as national indoor champion
A disabled archer from Pretoria was recently crowned South African indoor champion just eighteen months after he started participating in the sport.
Ferdi van Eeden from Pretoria, who represented Gauteng North at the recent SA National Indoor Archery Championships in Durban, won the gold medal and he was crowned South African champion.
Van Eeden only started participating in the sport for the first time in May 2018 when he was exposed to it at the Fulldraw Club in Doornpoort in the north of Pretoria.
With the help of the well-known archery expert, Hendré Scheepers, he quickly caught the hang of compound bow shooting.
Then he met South African Para-Archer, Shaun Anderson, who began to teach him the finer art of the sport. It was soon evident that he had natural talent for archery and he has since advanced rapidly.
Later in 2018 Van Eeden participated in various competitions and even won two gold medals in a Spring Open championship in East London.
In April this year the National Outdoor championship took place at Marks Park in Johannesburg. Van Eeden entered and finished fourth in his class, which is Compound Men’s Open.
Eager to make a name for himself, Van Eeden started practicing harder and with the opening of Ultimate Aim Sports Pavilion in Montana, it just got easier to practice with a completely wheelchair friendly complex.
The South African National Indoor Championships was held in Durban early last month. After the ranking rounds, Van Eeden was ranked second in his class. On the last day, during the gold medal matches, Van Eeden – with the support of his brother, Roan, – kept his cool and after beating more experienced men than himself, he won the gold medal to be crowned champion.
After the championship a proud and excited Van Eeden made no secret of his next dream – that is to represent South Africa at the Paralympics Games.
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