2017 Indoor Barebow Championship - Part 2

Official practice day...

It's a Sunday and we pretty much took it easy.
Michelle and I had chilled out in the morning. We took a walk to a market nearby to savor the local scene.
And I must say that the area around Lat Phrao Road is pretty clean!
After a good walk around, we headed back to the hotel and packed up our shooting gear. 

Filling up our tummy before heading to the tournament venue

Fried rice

Tomyam goong

Before we head off to the U-convention hall, we had lunch at a food court near our hotel. The fare was very decent and it was very cheap by our standards. Good food in our belly, a chance to sight our designated target face, we took a cab ride to the convention hall which is located about 4.6km away.

With Yuttana Lertruangsilpa, my lane mate

At the end of a main-event before equipment inspection

Checking out the stalls at the convention hall

An international affair and familiar faces...

The hall was abuzz with people and when we arrived, a couple of gold medal matches were going on. 
Noteworthy, was the match between "Mr Perfect" Mike Schloesser from the Netherlands and Kristoffer Schaff from the USA at the Men's Compound finals. 

Scaff (left) and Schloesser (right) at the prize-giving ceremony

We walked to the back of the hall and saw some familiar faces. One of them were Yuttana Lertruangsilpa, a seasoned archer whom I squared off with at the Thailand Princess Cup in June. 
Yuttana is a good archer and he's also my lane mate. And with the Thai crowd, I met Watchara Kohkeaw, another seasoned archer from the AF Archery Club. I followed Watchara's progress on the social media and I must say it was really fun shooting with this guy.

 A real gentleman archer: Watchara at the official practice session...

With Yuttana from Teerabow archery club at the hall

The Thai archers were very warm and friendly with us. Since we have met at the Princess Cup tournament, they kinda had a good impression of Michelle and me. We had our gear set up, waited for the equipment inspection to take place. Unlike the kampung meet that we regularly attend, the Indoor Barebow Championship is a serious tournament. They specify what kind of equipment you can use and I must say that I am pretty impressed with the way things were organized.

Thai celebrity Apisit "Joeyboy" Opasiamlikit getting his gear checked

The judge running a ring through an archer's bow

And when we were called up to the inspection line, we had our bows checked and the judge ran a ring through the riser and limbs.
Michelle and I had ours inspected and was passed to shoot at the event.
There, we also met Thai celebrity Apisit "Joeyboy" Opasiamlikit. Seems that he takes part in
 the IBC almost annually.
He's the only Thai archer who shot with a traditional takedown recurve bow.

At the equipment line

Setting up for the barebow official practice session

There were 51 names and archers from seven countries taking part in the event. Unlike the Thailand Princess Cup, the IBC is a short game. Only 16 archers will square off for the medal matches.

Archers from the first group at the official practice session

The official practice was a full-session. We shot 30 arrows in 10 ends to allow us to familiarise with the conditions in the hall.
I had Yuttana as my lane mate while Watchara shot at target face "A" with Duan Yuhang from China shooting target face "B". Yuttana and I was in the second group with targets "C" and "D" respectively.
Since I am not really used to shooting my Spigarelli Revolution 25 Barebow riser, I kinda struggled with the inconsistency in placing my shots.
Having the go at plinking 6 arrows in 2-minutes, I sighted-in the bow. And I must say that I was happy that most of the arrows landed in the blue and inner rings. A couple went stray and hit the white and black. 
When it was all over, I was satisfied with the opportunity to carry out the sighters.
Sadly, my fellow Malaysians who took part in the event did not arrive in time to shoot all 10 ends. 
After a good start, we headed back to our hotel to get a good meal.

First time having Mookata in Bangkok

Happy campers!

Nothing like a chilled one! 

Mookata (Thai BBQ) was our choice dinner treat and we found one such place near our hotel. 
We dug-in, had a good fill and called it a day... The following day will be a hectic one as we head off early to the all for the qualification rounds...