This year’s UniGames pioneers in its 15-year history the playing of a sport that has given sophistication to the use of the bow and arrow. The suggestion of Silliman University, 15th UniGames host, to include archery initially as a demo sport materialized with Visayas schools Silliman and La Salle University-Ozamiz reinforcing the promise of the sport. {{more}} Silliman and other schools with archery in its sports program are, however, seeking for its inclusion as a regular sport on top of 14 others. UniGames Corp. president Roger Banzuela said groundwork for archery to become a mainstay in the UniGames has started, in support of this year’s present initiative.
“We have asked the National Archery Association to campaign for participants, and they have responded to help us make it a regular sport in the next years to come. We remain optimistic for this to happen,” Banzuela said. For archery to be recognized as a regular sport, Banzuela said it has to sustain the participation of at least four schools — something that he foresee can be achieved with consistent marketing and promotional events. Banzuela said the country’s chances of making it big in the Olympics are with, with Filipino athletes’ top standing in international events.
Silliman University has produced a number of internationally-renowned archers, among them Olympians Rowel Merto, Lisa Ygnalaga, Jennifer Chan, and Mark Javier, who was the lone Filipino in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The series of demo games in archery had Silliman taking the lead in all three categories (30meter, 50 meter and Olympic round) in both men and women’s divisions. (Klein Emperado)
