The games were held from 24 to 26 October at the LC de Villiers sports stadium at Tukkies University in Pretoria and drew participants from all provinces across the country. The championships started with the qualification rounds for both Recurve and Compound-bow participants, followed by eliminations on each of the competing categories on the second day, and ended with the semi-finals and finals held on Sunday.
Himlok, representing the Archers of Zoo Lake club and Gauteng province in the indoor nationals, had been training vigorously for two years before the championships.
He faced off against close competition from North Gauteng opponent Zandre Raath in the semi-finals and went into the final elimination event in a narrow win over his Mpumalanga challenger Johan Wilsenach to secure the gold medal for the U15 Boy’s Recurve category.
After his fantastic victory, Himlok said, “I am grateful to my coach Dean McHendry and my parents who believed in me and kept pushing me forward. This has made all the difference to me in achieving this win”.
