Novelty in the ancient: Shehzana Anwar’s bold attempt in Rio Olympics 2016

Ask today and you will be told LOL. An Acronym famously used for the phrase, laugh out loud. It’s obviously not about the laughter, but a zeitgeist of our time; a linguist design that has characterized communication, and is correctly attributable to the influx and use of social media. Well, that may have been said of archery in the Middle Ages and in the early 17th and 18th Century. It was the-in-thing- so to speak. No doubt adapted from the need of man to eat and protect himself and turned into a sport by the rich and classy of the time. Today, we will focus on archery as a novel sport in Kenya, a novelty that was noticeable even as Shehzana Anwar the Rio Olympics, ranked number 62/64. This article shall attempt to look at archery as a sport and a profile of the brave lady who dared to walk in unfamiliar territory; Shehzana Anwar. .

The bow and arrow sport is as ancient as can be yet new in the eyes of many in Kenya and Sub Saharan Africa. In Kenya for instance, we have always thought of sports in terms of Soccer, Rugby and Athletics yet very little attention goes to Archery. The ancient and perhaps one of the earliest sporting activities have been eroded from the minds of many.

In Africa, just like the rest of the world, archery was developed out of the need to survive. There exists geological evidence in South Africa to the effect that skills in archery were fundamental in hunting and gathering. However, as a professional sport, we have the Federation of African Archers. They have the mandate of promoting the sport and developing it. Is it well done? One can argue that while setting up the federation is commendable, there is still a lot to be done in terms of promoting the sports as its little known and participated in. The same goes for Kenya, professionally we have the Kenya Archers Association having been created in 1991, yet a myriad of questions can be asked in terms of developing the sport. In spite of the sport having little publicity, Anwar has risen to make Kenya proud making history as the first female Muslim to represent Kenya in the Olympics in this category.  Who is this young lady?

She was described as an archer in a family of rally drivers; her father and uncle being the point of reference. She has represented Kenya before in the commonwealth games and in an interview the question of her faith and the difficulty with sports came up. She answered that the difficulty was surmounted by the family support she has and that archery is referred to by the prophet as something an Angel will do. Shehzana started archery at the age of 15 and has been privileged to participate in a number of international event that has given her experience and mastery at the sport. Now about the age of 27 Shehzana took another bold step to try and live her dream, though buddle out of the competition, it is still a bold and courageous step on her part that should be recognized by the federation and the government. Thank you for Representing Kenya in Rio Olympics 2016