The Tuks archer, Wian Roux, made sure he qualified for the Youth Olympic Games over the weekend when he won a silver medal in archery during the African Youth Games in Algeria.
Roux and his teammates also won a bronze medal in the team competition.
“To finish second means I have not won. For now, I will accept winning a silver medal, but I know I am capable of doing better. What excites me is that I have learned a lot while I competed. Hopefully, it will stand me to good stead in future competitions,” said Roux who is a learner at Hoërskool Menlopark.
Shaun Anderson (TuksArchery chairman) is genuinely excited about Roux’s performance.
“Wian’s main goal was to qualify for the Games, and he managed to do so. It proves that he has got big match temperament.”
Roux describes his final as being a humdinger.
“I was not off to the best of starts which is never good. Archery can be mentally exhausting. The moment you start doubting your own abilities you are in trouble. In other sports, especially where there is a ball involved, you are able to step away to regroup and refocus, when things tend not to go according to plan, not so in archery. You got to remain in exactly the same spot for the duration of the competition while battling to keep your emotions intact.”
To Roux’s credit, he did manage to remain calm which led to his accuracy improving. With one round remaining the scores were tied at four all.
“Unfortunately I shot one bad arrow which led to me losing out on winning the gold medal. The positive I can take from the competition is that I now realise that I am good enough to compete internationally. Finishing second left me hungrier to succeed, but I got to be realistic. There is still a lot of hard work that awaits me,” said Roux who finished 33rd during last year’s Junior World Championships.
According to Roux, he loves archery as it is a sport in which physical strength is not required.
“It is just you, your bow and the target. The main requisite in our sport is the utmost of concentration. When one of the arrows go off target, it is important to forget about it and focus on your next shot immediately. The moment you start wondering about what went wrong is when you start doubting your abilities. Then you are doomed.”
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