Sixteen-year-old archer Abigail Jane Lim delivered a stunning golden sweep at the Batang Pinoy 2025 national archery championships, capturing six gold medals to emerge as Davao City’s most bemedaled athlete in this year’s Games.
Continuing her impressive performance, Lim dominated every event she entered, from individual to team, in the Girls’ 17-under Compound category at Notre Dame of Dadiangas University Ibed.
Her haul included golds in the Individual Olympic Round, mixed team event with Pepito Henry Wee, and girls team event with Alexandra Bringuer and Arianna Denise Pahang. Earlier in the week, she ruled the compound first and second rounds and the overall qualification, completing the sweep.
It marks a remarkable leap from her 2024 campaign, where she only managed one silver and one bronze at Puerto Princesa City.
“Wala pa akong golds before 2025 po (I didn’t have any golds before 2025),” she told SunStar Davao in a Messenger interview. “I’m really happy po na my training paid off.”
Putting in the work
Now a Grade 11 student at Davao Christian High School, Lim juggles schoolwork and training, not always easily.
“Medyo po kasi SHS na po ako (It’s a bit harder now that I’m in senior high school),” she said. “Pero kaya lang man po (But it’s still manageable).”
Lim said her biggest improvement this year came from commitment and intensity.
“Mas grabe po yung aking time and effort sa pag-practice ko ngayon kaysa last year (I put in much more time and effort in my training now compared to last year), ” she said.
Even before Batang Pinoy, Lim maintained a grueling regimen: firing at least 72 arrows after school on weekdays and 108 to 144 arrows on weekends. A week before the Games, she joined a Manila training camp, averaging more than 250 arrows daily.
She trains under the Davao Archery Club and supplements her shooting with swimming and running.
Humble beginning
Lim first took up archery at 14, drawing inspiration from her family, including a cousin who also competed in the sport. She quickly progressed, earning a silver medal in her Batang Pinoy debut in 2023.
Her international exposure grew in August 2025 when she placed ninth at the World Archery Youth Championship in Winnipeg, Canada, defeating Taipei before narrowly bowing to India by two points — a result that boosted her confidence to compete at a higher level.
She credits her recent success to the support of family, coaches, and teammates, and hopes to join more international tournaments. Lim also dreams of seeing compound archery added to the Olympic program and representing the Philippines on the sport’s biggest stage.
Altogether, her six-gold sweep in General Santos City further affirmed her rise as one of the country’s standout young archers.
She is still eligible to compete in next year’s Batang Pinoy
MLSA