Slovenian recurves recognise generosity of archery community after stolen kit replaced

A group of Slovenian recurve archers had their archery equipment stolen from their car when they were in Rome for the Indoor Archery World Series event held there last year in December.

The archery community rallied around the team. The equipment was quickly replaced.

In Nimes this weekend, they’re wearing t-shirts that name each of the large group of companies that gifted new gear to the archers.

“We want to thank everyone who helped us get new equipment so we can continue with our training,” said Ana Umer. “After we posted what happened to us on Facebook, we immediately got a response from a lot of companies and in a week we got most of what we needed.”

Ana is one of the archers wearing the shirts in Nimes. Den Habjan Malavašič, Gašper Štrajhar, Luka Arnež, Žiga Ravnikar and Špela Ferš are the others.

“We are forever grateful to this big archery family who was able to help us during our worst moment,” she added. “Thank you for helping us to shoot again.”

The companies that helped the group were Hoyt, Axcel/TRUBall Archery, Dišport Slovenija, Beiter, JP Manufaktur, Fairweather Archery, Brady Ellison, Shibuya, Gillo, Arc System, Ram Rods, Spyder Vanes and Win&Win.

Kamnik archery club, Sons of Archery Slovenia and the Slovenian Archery Federation, with head coach Gregor Končan, filled in all the gaps in the missing kit.

The Sud de France Nimes Archery Tournament is the fifth event on the 2020 Indoor Archery World Series.

Brady Ellison (595), Kim Surin (591), Braden Gellenthien/Nicolas Girard (597) and Paige Pearce (596) lead qualification after two sessions. There are two more sessions scheduled on Saturday 18 January.

Eliminations take place later in the evening and the finals, on Sunday 19 January, will be streamed live on World Archery platforms.

The fifth event of the 2020 Indoor Archery World Series is the Sud de France Nimes Archery Tournament on Friday 17 to Sunday 19 January 2020.