Following long intense training by all local archers and a well prepared indoor shooting programme, the final competitions valid for the national championships were held at the archery’s association indoor ranges in Pembroke last weekend.

In all, competitions were held in five different categories and for the first time ever the association also organised a bare bow competition.

The finals were held on four rounds of 30 arrows each shot at a distance of 18-metres on a vertical triple face measuring 20cm in diameter whilst the inner score of 10 measures 3cm.

The juniors shooting in the recurve section were quite keen and enthusiastic whilst in the senior divisions the competition was tougher and more tense.

In the Junior Recurve section, Luke Pellicano, following some excellent scores during the indoor season including the breaking of no less than three national records, also claimed the title of Junior Recurve Champion closely followed in second place by Jonathan Ellul and Daniel Mangion in third.

After the first two rounds and half way through the final, Pellicano was leading the tables with 479 while Ellul was closely behind by five points with Daniel Mangion in third.

On the second day Ellul tried hard to close the gap on Pellicano who, however, remained calm to maintain the margin between the two and stay on top of the tables at the end of the four rounds. Pellicano won the title of national champion with a total score of 1,404 while Ellul finished in second place with newcomer Daniel Mangion in third.

In the senior Recurve division, the tussle for first place was between Kevin Bonnici and Sebastian Aquilina. Joe Sultana followed closely in third preceding by a few points UK shooter Dave Jones.

At the end of day one, Bonnici was leading the tables with a total of 541 on 60 arrows. Aquilina was second with 500 and Sultana in third with 486.

On the second day of shooting, all shooters maintained their consistency to preserve their placings in the final table.

Maria Formosa also ended both days leading the female recurve category and was declared national champion for the female recurve division at the end of day two. Kevin Bonnici was also declared national champion after he shot an exceptional aggregate score of 1,600.

For the first time ever in Malta, the Archery Association this year set up and also organised competitions for bare bow shooters. The bare bow is a very primitive form of the modern Olympic bow. As the name implies the bow is bare from all accessories including sights and archers have to entirely rely on their ability to use external reference points for their aiming.

The scores achieved in this category were remarkable and local shooter John Aquilina faced a hard time to beat off the stiff competition from Sweden’s Kaj Sjoberg.

After the first two rounds of 60 arrows, Sjoberg was leading this category with a total of 495 while closely in second was Aquilina with 478.

The two archers leading the tables in this category continued to display more accurate shooting on the second day and both had creditable scores.

It was, however, Sjoberg who at the end managed to shoot the highest tally of 1,497 against Aquilina’s 1,411.

Another title which was also keenly disputed over the weekend was that for the male compound category and despite the stiff competition, John Pace managed to win this title again for the second year running to retain the championship title.

Kyvin Sant came second with Dion Buhagiar ending a close third. After day one, Pace was leading the tables with a margin of 18 points over Sant and 19 over Buhagiar who ended the day with 542.

Falzon and Ellul Sullivan followed closely in fourth and fifth with a score of 541 and 538 respectively. The second day of shooting proved to be more intense since the margin separating all archers was minimal and did not allow any room for errors.

Buhagiar and Pace ended round 3 with an equal score of 279 and while Pace remained on top of the tables, Buhagiar managed to bypass Sant in second place when the latter shot 275.

With only 30 arrows to go, competition became tougher but Kyvin Sant managed to regain his previous consistency to shoot a total of 276 to Buhagiar’s 270 thus surpassing the same archer to gain second place at the end of the four rounds.

The 283 shot by Pace not only ensured him winning all four rounds but also retaining the title of national indoor champion for the compound category which he had already won last year.

All indoor competitions were judged by International FITA judge John Collins while John Schembri and Dr Raphael Patinott were Director of Shoot and Scoring Official respectively.