Young Tongan archers outstanding in NZ nationals [1]
Friday, January 23, 2015 - 18:15. Updated on Monday, August 17, 2020 - 17:51.
Two young Tongan archers Lualala Tatafu (13) and Lusitania Tatafu (16) have won Gold and Silver medals at the 72nd Archery New Zealand National Championships 2015, held earlier this month in Auckland, New Zealand.
The wins are a strong statement for Tongan archery, proving itself as a force to be reckoned with against New Zealand, Australia and the French Pacific.
Lusitania Tatafu won Silver in the open match play competition in a competition, which consisted of 22 archers mostly from New Zealand and France. The 16 year-old narrowly lost the final to 34 year-old Sarah Fuller of Hamilton, New Zealand. The exciting match ended in sudden death with a “1 arrow shoot-off” and Fuller winning by one point.
The 13 year-old Lualala won three Gold medals and one Silver medal in his age division. He won gold medals for Matchplay and Recurve Bow.
The young archers could be considered favourites for the upcoming Commonwealth Youth Games in Samoa this September. Unfortunately for Tonga, Archery is not included in this year’s 2015 Pacific Games in Papua New Guinea.