Our 1-2-3 archery athletes on the podium at Rio 2016
Archery

Archery

Introduction

The goal of Archery is to shoot arrows accurately at a target with a diameter of 122cm marked with 10 concentric rings.

These rings increase in points value the smaller and the closer they get to the centre, so a hit in the outermost zone is worth one point while a hit in the centre, the ‘gold’, is worth 10 points.

Sport Details

Rules

At the Paralympic Games archers shoot at targets placed at a standard distance of 70m, the same distance as at the Olympic Games.

Each event includes a ranking round where each archer shoots 72 arrows (12 ends of six arrows each) before the archers enter the elimination rounds.

At Tokyo 2020, there will be six archery competitions for individual competitors and three team events. Athletes, who use recurve or compound bows, compete in either the W1 or Open class.

In some events the top performers in the ranking round will receive a bye in the first elimination round, because of the number of entries.

For the team events, teams are ranked according to the combined scores from the ranking round before proceeding to the knock out stages.

The elimination rounds will be contested as head-to-head match play. In the event of a tie, an arrow-by-arrow shoot-off will be held, creating the possibility of a gold medal being decided by a single shot.

The sport’s classification system divides archers into three functional classes.

The standing class (ST1) is for athletes with no loss of function in their arms, but with some degree of loss of muscle strength, co-ordination and/or joint mobility in their legs. Impairment groups include athletes who are amputees, athletes with cerebral palsy and athletes classified as les autres. Archers in this class may choose to compete sitting on a stool or chair with their feet on the ground or standing.

There is also a W1 class for athletes who have tetraplegia or a comparable impairment. These athletes have only a limited range of movement, strength and control in their arms and legs. They compete in a wheelchair.

Archers in the W2 class have paraplegia or a comparable impairment. Athletes have limited mobility in the lower limbs. W2 athletes have full arm function. These athletes usually require a wheelchair for everyday use and compete in a wheelchair.

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