Five athletes from Vanuatu’s archery team have returned home with two silver medals after competing in the European Traditional Open (ETO) in Italy earlier this month.
The ETO is a well-known traditional archery competition that took place from July 7–10 at the Polino National Park in Italy. It brought together archers from around the world to showcase traditional bow and arrow skills in a natural, outdoor setting similar to bush hunting. This style of archery is called “field archery.”
Vanuatu was the only Pacific island nation to take part in this international event. The team included four ni-Vanuatu archers and Vanuatu Archery Federation President, Pocatera Marcello, who is originally from Italy and also trains archers in Port Vila.
Coach Francis Runa, who leads the national archery team, praised the team’s efforts and results.
Strong Performances by Team Vanuatu:
- Jasmine Kere won a silver medal in the takedown recurve category.
- Pocatera Marcello earned a silver medal in the self bow category.
- Jacky Lauha placed 4th in the barebow recurve.
- Tito Elise finished 6th in the takedown recurve.
- Theo Tari came 10th in the takedown recurve.
After the competition, the team also joined a two-day training session with Italian master coach, Ferruccio Berti.
The team’s participation was the result of months of training held weekly at the Korman archery range in Port Vila. This experience has been a valuable step forward for Vanuatu in the sport of traditional archery on the world stage.
