Top archer Meuwesen on his exciting journey
BY MICHAEL UUGWANGA
JANNIE Meuwesen had been practicing archery for many years, but only hit the range at the age of 37 and has not looked back ever since and now he applies his passion for archery and the valuable lessons it taught him into his daily life.
Initially, Meuwesen (41) was more passionate about hunting, but when archery came calling he decided to take up the sport and today he has won multiple medals to his name including the 2018 world archery championship in Potchefstroom, South Africa. 2019 was another great year for him after he won me the African Regional Field Archery Championships in Zambia, breaking all the Namibian Field Archery records and as a result he won the MTC Sportsman of the year award.
The sportsman was born in Keetmanshoop but currently resides in Lüderitz with his wife and their three dogs, Max, Sniper and Melo.
This year was a tough year for athletes and Meuwesen is one of many athletes that have seen their careers in sport affected due to the pandemic.
Besides his sporting activities, Meuwesen is a fulltime employee at Exigrade Feeds in Luderitz.
This week Meuwesen spoke to Confidente Sport about his archery journey.
“I have been here for 22 years now and currently working for Exigrade Feeds where we produce fishmeal.
I am married to Heidi and she is very supportive in my archery career which takes up a lot of time and dedication.
“I started archery in 2016 at the time when I was more interested in only hunting with the bow, but in 2017 I started shooting competitively after realising that this is what I want to do for as long as I can. I worked very hard putting in lots of hours preparing for the world field archery championships held in Potchefstroom, South Africa in 2018.
“My goal at the time was only to compete and do as well as I can in the competitions as I knew there were great archers from all over the world competing for the podium. The competition ran over five consecutive days and at the end of day one when the scores came in I was placed in second place overall, there I realised that I must just keep on going.
The next four days I was shooting with some of the best archers in the world, exchanging the lead numerous times.
But in the end I held on to win a gold medal for Namibia,” he said.
He is now looking forward to a busy calendar year next year and hoping to compete in more competitions, including the African Regional Field Archery Championship in South Africa in April and the World Field Archery Championship in Estonia in August.
Said Meuwesen: “This year was a bit of a slow year for archery mostly because of Covid19 and restrictions however I managed to win a silver medal at the Namibian Field Archery Nationals in Windhoek.
“Next year will be a full year for me as far archery is concerned. Hopefully I can bring back some more medals for Namibia. I do not have any plans to retire yet as I still have a lot to learn and goals to achieve”