South African archer Shaun Anderson finished in ninth place in the men’s individual W1 ranking round on Thursday, and booked a date with Türkiye’s Yigit Caner Aydin in Sunday’s eliminator at the Paris Paralympics.

Anderson’s season best score of 638 was only two points off the score of gold medallist at the Dubai World Championships, Aydin, with Chinese Tianxin Zhang setting the new Paralympic record with a winning score of 674.

The South African’s first-half score of 322 was the best between the two halves, with the highest score of 55 out of a possible 60, and Anderson was happy with his efforts despite the pressure he felt.

Aged 51, Anderson has twice been eliminated in the first rounds of both the Rio and Tokyo Paralympic Games, but he feels confident ahead of his battle with Aydin.

Shaun Anderson has his eye on a medal at the 2024 #Paralympics 🏆🇿🇦

His first event in Paris is the Men's Individual W1 Ranking Round on Thursday 29 August at 09:00 (CAT) 🏹#CloserToYourChampions pic.twitter.com/OiT7Tgqt9U
— SuperSport 🏆 (@SuperSportTV) August 28, 2024

“The job that I wanted to do, I managed to do. Everyone wants to end in the top four, but as soon as I realised I was falling off the bracket a bit, I said to myself if I can just get eighth or ninth place … because the bracket system works a bit in my favour.

“Sunday will be the big day, that is where I like to play my game. The fact that the stadium will be fully booked, it’s going to be unbelievable and I will feed off the energy.

“You want to rank well. Ranking well is a big plus point, but for me, that is where the game will get played.”

🏹 𝕄𝔼ℕ'𝕊 𝔸ℝℂℍ𝔼ℝ𝕐 🏹

Shaun Anderson (W1) finished 9th in the Men’s Archery, hitting a Season best of 639 points! Well done! 🌟 #TeamSA #ForMyCountry #Paralympics2024 pic.twitter.com/lgCckJU3l2
— Team South Africa (@OfficialTeamRSA) August 29, 2024

Meanwhile, Nathan Hendricks kicked off Team South Africa’s campaign in the pool in decent fashion.

The 19-year-old swimmer was in action in the men’s 100m butterfly on Thursday, and he couldn’t contain his excitement after he reached the final in a time of 59.51 seconds.

“It felt awesome, it was insane with the crowd. And hearing their roar, then when I walked out, it was something I have never heard before.

“It was the first time I went under the double, so I am ecstatic and pretty happy with it.

“I’m feeling more ready and pumped up, because with the crowd, that was an amazing thing to experience, so I’m feeling more hype for my next races.”

Hendricks produced another sub-60 time in the final, finishing eighth in 59.91.

Elsewhere, Karabo Morapedi lost his first encounter in the Boccia men’s individual BC3 preliminary round against Australia’s Daniel Michel 10-2.

Morapedi will next face Great Britain’s William Arnott on Friday.

#paralympics-2024

Good start for Archer Shaun Anderson to start SA Paralympics campaign