Tabassum said the team of six archers are motivated to appear at the grandest stage of their careers, noting her belief in their abilities to achieve this dream.
“The biggest dream of any archery is to be a world champion and indeed to go to the Olympics. It has been done once by our very own Shehzana Anwar who, having won the 2016 Africa Championship, won the Summer Games slot for Kenya. The other two Kenyan qualifiers (Shamas Velani and Dominic Rebelo) got their slots through wildcards,” Tabassum said.
Shehzana was Kenya’s sole representative at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where she was defeated 7:1 in the first round by South Korean Ki Bo-Bae.
Tabassum said the team is game for the battle to secure slots at the quadrennial event, revealing that they will embark on intense training ahead of the African Continental Qualification Tournament, set for November 7-12 in Nabeul, Tunisia.
“We set up our national qualifier competition and national qualifier scores. Stage 1 of the national qualification event was held at the end of July at Strathmore University range. Stage 2 counted as the scores accrued from the Mauritius extravaganza whilst Stage 3 shall take place at the beginning of October,” she said.
Tabassum added: “And with most archers now based in Nairobi, daily training has been ongoing after work. All archers are employed, so we take that into consideration. Each archer has their own equipment but the need to upgrade is paramount. Again, funds are restraining on this matter.”
The team have just returned from the Africa Open Archery Championship in Mauritius where they competed against 55 archers from eight other African nations.
Amidst windy conditions at the Strade Germain Comarmond Stadium, Team Kenya harvested one silver in the women’s team event and bronze in the mixed Team event courtesy of Agnes Kinyua (silver medalist team event), Diram Elema (silver medalist Team event), Shehzana Anwar (silver medalist team event and bronze medalist mixed event), Rizwan Virji (bronze Medalist team event).
Other members of the team were Edel Kawara and Alikhan Kazia.
Reflecting on their campaign in the Indian Ocean country, Tabassum admitted the windy weather was a Eureka moment for her on what they need to do to survive against other archers in the world.
“Wind was tremendous in Mauritius. We haven’t witnessed such a kind of wind before. Mauritius was an eyeopener as arrows would not land where you want to aim; the wind carries them away. Plus strong wind will adjust your form. You can’t stand totally upright in windy situations, as crouching will move your body setting,” she explained.
She added: “Archers have to train hard in all sorts of conditions to counter judgement of arrow flight. All competitive archers need to compete in different parts of the world to master control of equipment and mental status.”
Even as they stretch their bows towards the French capital — ready to shoot for the stars — Tabassum said the team will need all the support they can get.
“We have submitted our budget to the authorities in regards to preparation towards the Olympics, in which we have requested for participation in three World Cup competitions. To enable more Kenya archers realise their potential in the sport, we need to be funded to take them to expert training centers and camps. For the juniors, there has been a school training programme running under the tutelage of Shehzana,” Tabassum reiterated.
Kenya has one official archery range at the Strathmore University Sports Complex with another one at the Aga Khan Sports Club.
