Potgieter aims to secure Olympic spot at African Archery Championships

JOHANNESBURG – Team South Africa’s archery team is fighting for an Olympic spot at the 2023 African Championships and the continental qualifier taking place on 8-12 November in Nabeul, Tunisia.

South Africa is represented by four athletes at the African Champs, namely Werner Potgieter, Wian Roux, Morgan Blewett and Carien Whitehead. Eyewitness News had a quick chat with Werner Potgieter about the sport.

"I have always had a fascination with bows since I was little. So, when I grew up and started seriously looking into it, it was 2008 when I found a club and started the sport," said the athlete.
Potgieter won the SA national championships in 2017 and 2018 and now has made the national champs team. The athlete hasn’t had it easy, and having suffered injuries throughout his career, he hopes to leave his mark at this competition.

"I suffered a vehicle collision in 2010 that put me out of commission and into recovery without surgery for five years. At the end of 2018, I suffered another injury that took me out for two years, but then COVID hit and some personal reasons kept me from coming back till 2022."

He told Eyewitness News that coming back from all those injuries wasn’t easy, as it took everything within him.

"It was not easy and at times demoralising but a strong will and state of mind is a must."

The Capetonian said he would love to see more TV coverage from our national broadcasters and news agencies as this will help the sport to grow.

“Our country has a very built-in ball sport obsession - rugby, cricket and soccer. Those sports get promoted hard. What needs to happen in my opinion is we need to get national broadcasters involved to cover and promote archery. We do have developmental programmes in place but the promotion on a media level is lacking.”