It was Kenya’s only gold medal of the competition, and Kitali also claimed silver as part of the nation’s barebow mixed team alongside Roy Ncheeri – although only Kenya and Côte d’Ivoire competed in the discipline.
Travelling to Abidjan in November was also Kitali’s first trip outside Kenya. Upon her return, she undertook a series of interviews with local media before speaking to World Archery.
“It was really just training more and a lot of encouragement from people to actually try it [barebow] out,” she explained when asked why she decided to compete in Abidjan. “Honestly, I didn’t think I was going to perform so well because I only started last year in March. I didn’t really lose anything by challenging myself.”
“I’m just really happy that archery is getting more media time in Kenya because it’s not very well known as a sport, and that it’s actually possible for people to just come and shoot.”
The introduction of a barebow category at the African Championships adds a layer of uniqueness to the competition.
The African and Pan American Championships are the only major outdoor international target events to include barebow, with the Asian, European, Oceanic and World Championships featuring compound and recurve only.
Beyond increasing participation, Kitali – an engineering specialist in her day job – believes barebow’s visual simplicity has helped it gain popularity in Africa compared to other regions.
“In Africa, the image of barebow is more familiar than recurve, which looks sort of alien,” she explained. “If someone is starting out and sees all the equipment, they might not bother, but when they see barebow, they think, ‘Okay, I can handle that.’ That’s why I think it’s more popular.”
