Four clubs in Vienne welcome archery enthusiasts with disabilities.
Indoor shooting competition Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 November Loudun was a competition registered in the para-archery calendar. This event, organized by the Compagnie des Archers du Loudunois, qualified for the French and Paralympic championships and welcomed archers from New Aquitaine and neighboring departments. like the club of Abilly, in Indre-et-Loire, which had four archers with disabilities. One of them, Eric Pereira, lives in Loudun and trains regularly at the club. Abilly is the biggest club in the Center Val-de-Loire region to present athletes with disabilities. The room is accessible to people with reduced mobility.
Corentin Barataud, president of the Vienne committee, and Jean-Jacques Viaud, president of the Compagnie Des Archers Des Six Valles (Lusignan), explain that the French Archery Federation (FFTA) has taken over the competence of the competitions in June 2022, while the French Handisport Federation rather manages leisure sport.
Jean-Jacques Viaud is the reference at department level for para-archery. Several clubs in Vienne are concerned: Saint-Benot, Jaunay-Marigny, Chtellerault and Lusignan. The latter has the three authorizations FFTA, FFH (French Handisport Federation) and FFSA (French Federation of Adapted Sport) for mental disabilities. One of our archers found a new path at the club and retrained after an accident, when he was twice vice-world motocross champion.
Para-archery includes different kinds of disabilities: visual, lower or upper limbs, deaf. Some competitors shoot with their muzzle using a gallows and a releaser. The disabled sports department committee 86 organized training at Creps de Poitiers in October 2022 to help clubs welcome people with disabilities. She was supervised by Vincent Hybois (national sporting director of disabled archery).