Manitobans look to stay on target at Worlds

It all started with a documentary for Khushreet Sandhu, who remembers watching a story about an Indian archer criticized for being a girl competing in sports — and something clicked.

“That kind of lit this fire in me,” said Sandhu. “So I asked my mom if there were any archery places in Winnipeg.”

Now, just three years after picking up a bow, Sandhu, at 13 years old, is one of three Manitoban athletes who will represent Canada at the World Archery Youth Championships, as 582 athletes from 67 countries are set to arrive in Winnipeg for the largest event on the World Archery calendar.

It’s the first time Winnipeg is hosting an international archery tournament, which will run from August 16-24. The event features both compound and recurve competitions, with all matches up to the semifinals held at the Winnipeg South End United Soccer Complex, and the bronze and gold medal finals taking place at The Forks.

Sandhu, a compound archer, hopes to build on what has already been a successful start to her young archery career.

She holds multiple provincial medals in both indoor and outdoor competitions, along with first-place finishes at the 2024 National West Cup, 2024 Archery Nationals, 2024 Manitoba Outdoor Championships, 2025 Manitoba Indoor Championships and, most recently, the 2025 National West Cup held this past June.

Consistent practice is what Sandhu says has been a big help in her growth, dedicating five to six hours every day to archery.

Not only is she winning compound tournaments, on May 15 Sandhu also set a new Canadian open record in the 18-metre indoor round with a score of 583, breaking her own previous record of 578 set in February.

For Worlds, Sandhu will stand 50 metres away from the target.

“It’s really mental, because having pressure on yourself and having the ability to control yourself and have pinpoint accuracy in that pressure is very hard.”–Khushreet Sandhu

In the qualification round, she will shoot 72 arrows, six arrows per end across 12 ends, with a maximum possible score of 720 points. In the elimination rounds, she will shoot 15 arrows, five ends of three arrows each, with a maximum score of 150 points.

“The mental side is a really big and key factor of it,” said Sandhu.

“It’s like 90 per cent of a mental game. Like you can see all the equipment, you see the strength training, it is very physical at some points. But it’s really mental, because having pressure on yourself and having the ability to control yourself and have pinpoint accuracy in that pressure is very hard.”

Sandhu will compete in the U18 Compound event along with Canadians Jordyn Polowaniuk of Alberta and Anya Pinel of Ontario. Acadia Flockton, also from Manitoba, was named as an alternate.

“It’s not really overwhelming, as many would say,” said Sandhu. “But it’s a really nice experience. You see people who are also attached to this sport, and it’s very fulfilling for you to notice that, like someone else is also putting their efforts into this game as well. You get inspired by some people, because you obviously meet people who are better than you, so you get inspired to do better.”

“I’m looking forward to having a great experience, and making an impact on the world level, so some people remember my name, I really hope,” she said.

In the U21 Compound event, Winnipegger Bailey Mathers will take the stage.

It’s not her first time representing Canada, the 18-year-old having competed at the previous World Archery Youth Championships in Limerick, Ireland, in 2023, and also at the 2022 and 2024 Junior Pan Am Championships.

But it is her first time at a World Championship at home, hoping to come back from a rough Canada Cup tournament a couple of months ago.

“It’s definitely an honour shooting for your country, especially it being in Canada and in my hometown, right?” said Mathers. “So it’s a really big deal, and I’m very excited to have the opportunity to represent Canada again.”

Mathers’s journey in archery began when she was seven years old, after she and her older sister were gifted bows for Christmas from their parents.

Her dad also shoots, and by the time she was 12, Mathers had started taking lessons. A year later, she was competing.

Mathers now coaches young athletes in the sport herself, a full-circle moment for the archer who came up through lessons and has gone on to earn first-place finishes at the Indoor Target Provincial Championships, National Indoor Championships and Provincial Championships Mixed Team events, along with medals at several other provincial and national competitions.

“The most important thing for being a good archer, I’d say it’s the mental game,” said Mathers, who practices six times a week. “You can shoot super well in practice, but when you get into competition, if all of that goes away as soon as you get a bit stressed out, it’s really hard to perform well.”

At the Canada Cup, Mathers struggled with severe “target panic,” a psychological condition where the mind is unable to hold the pin on the intended target and execute the release without experiencing anxiety.

“You can shoot super well in practice, but when you get into competition, if all of that goes away as soon as you get a bit stressed out, it’s really hard to perform well.”–Bailey Mathers

“Your body knows there’s gonna be an explosion,” said Mathers. “Your body is automatically gonna try to protect yourself from that explosion. With archery and shooting guns, really any type of shooting, the fire is perceived as an explosion to your body, so target panic is essentially your brain reacting to that explosion.”

It’s something she’s been working to overcome by researching and applying techniques from shooting instructor Joel Turner, who has dedicated his career to helping athletes manage target panic through both mental and physical strategies.

Feeling better recently, Mathers is working hard on the physical side of the game and refining her technique for Worlds, where she will pull back 53.5 pounds of draw weight on her compound bow and go up against 66 other countries.

“Getting to know the other athletes, that’s the one thing that I always look forward to with international competitions,” Mathers said. “It’s not very common that you can walk up to a group of people from a totally different country and just immediately know you have something that’s very important to all of you that is shared among that entire group.”

zoe.pierce@freepress.mb.ca