Playing Catch-Up
It has been quite a busy few weeks. You may not have noticed by the number of emails or the posts on social media, but that does not always reflect what is going on. Well, certainly not here at SNGLRTY. I am sure you are aware by now we entered into a sponsorship agreement with the World Archery Federation. This means that SNGLRTY is the Official Timekeeper for the annual Hyundai Archery World Cup circuit and the biennial Hyundai World Archery Championship events. Our responsibility is to provide accurate on-field timing at all these events.
Precision – But No Prize
But that is not all; we have also created the SNGLRTY Prize for Precision. I thought there was time to introduce this special prize to all our fans before the first event, but events overtook our planning. The first round was the 2023 Hyundai Archery World Cup meeting in Antalya, Türkiye at the end of April. During the bronze medal match between Spain and Türkiye in the Recurve Mixed Team, Spain and Türkiye had the same points. This had to be decided by a shoot-off. Each team has a single arrow, and the arrow nearest the target’s center will win. That is when Elia Canales from Spain stepped up to the line and sent this arrow down the range. Both timing and accuracy combine to create this epic moment. One might say a SNGLRTY moment.
Winning Team Shot
This was the winning shot. A stunning way to win any competition. The sad part is that however good and however epic that shot was, it does not count towards the SNGLRTY Prize For Precision because the Prize for Precision is an individual prize. This is how it works:
The SNGLRTY Prize for precision was created to recognize the most accurate archer across the Archery World Cup Stages and the Archery World Cup Finals. How do we determine the most accurate archer, you may ask? Well, that is easy, it is the archer that scores the greatest number of 10’s during qualifications and individual matchplay and includes all rounds and shoot-offs.
The prize alternates between compound and recurve each year, with a prize for both Ladies’ and Men’s competitions. This year, as it is an odd year, the prize is being awarded for the recurve competitions. Both the winners will receive a winning prize of US$5,000 plus one of our Limited Edition World Archery Championship Watch 2023.
Who is Winning?
The competition started in Antalya, Türkiye, and will run until the finals at the end of the year. The statistics are really quite frightening. The current leaders for the SNGLRTY Prize for Precision are France’s Jean-Charles Valldont and Laura van der Winkel of the Netherlands. The statistics are amazing, Laura van der Winkel scored 62 bullseyes out of 72 arrows shot (86% accuracy), and Jean-Charles hit 85 bullseyes in total over the weekend.
What is interesting to note is that neither of our leaders won their class. This is because the winner is decided in a stage-by-stage process, so the order the bullseyes are scored is important for the main event. On the other hand, SNGLRTY is not so fussy. We love to see that arrow go into the bullseye.
Keeping Up To Date
If you want to keep up to date with how the contestants for the Prize for Precision are getting along, you can follow along on the news section of the World Archery website. Alternatively, you can follow along on Twitter with the hashtag #PrecisionPoint, although you may also get some strange medical stuff on that feed!