World Archery Barbados (WAB) President Angela Jones believes Barbados’ performances in the most recent Caribbean Development Championships (CADC) was a success.
Barbados won 14 medals, one more than originally announced, after Cole Gill was awarded another silver medal in a mixed team event after a recount.
The 2023 Caribbean Development Championships were held in Trinidad & Tobago and concluded on October 1. The medal tally was three gold medals, seven silver and four bronze.
Jones said: “I thought they did exceptionally well especially when you think about the number of archers that we took down (17). I knew that we had a pretty strong team of archers but I was surprised by the number of gold medals that we got.
“The middle level of archers that we thought perhaps might have struggled (with the increased level of competition) managed to hold their own and really competed at a very high level.”
When asked how Barbados could improve on this performance moving forward, Jones stressed that it was all about taking this experience into future competitions.
“We have to take that next step forward now by competing in more competitions which would also give us a leeway towards doing more international tournaments. We will be trying now to get our archers still competing at the CADC level which is the Caribbean level because of course we can do better. Three golds is fantastic but we can do better and there are other divisions that we can progress in.”
Carlos Field (FILE)
Carlos Field, one of the coaches who travelled to Trinidad & Tobago, was also very pleased with their performance.
“I think overall they did very well. Each person gave a good account of themselves. We had a few outstanding performances like Javier Jordan who shot in the Senior Male Recurve. I’d let you know that R-James Holder gave him a good run for his money in the final (Jordan won 6-4). The tournament finished in darkness because the lights were on from six o’clock and then matches finished around ten in the night which is nothing any of the archers were accustomed to. I certainly don’t think Javier is shooting what I think may be a personal best, it was a good showing and all of the archers enjoyed it.”
Another one of the coaches, Anton Norville, believes this performance will lead to more archers turning out for Barbados.
“Next year I expect there will be more archers representing Barbados, especially in the junior levels. That is one thing to look forward to. There were 17 archers this time but next time I am hoping it will be in the high twenties. I have a whole host of archers who did not compete this time around but for the CADC Games in Jamaica next year, there are around eight archers that are looking to take part in that competition.”
The next local event is the National Archery Competition on October 28 and 29 at the Wildey Gymnasium. (JC)