China Archery

By Sarah Munday and agencies

Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou said he was confident that the island’s Olympians would return home from Beijing with a record haul of medals, besting the five won in Athens.

“I hope the athletes can continue the good performance in Athens to win more medals … Many of them are capable of wining gold medals,” Ma said during a visit to the national training centre in Zuoying, southern Taiwan.

“The athletes are training very hard and their coaches are working very hard to train them and our team’s morale is very high. I am very confident” about winning, said Ma.

The president, who took office in May, gave the Olympic team a traditional red envelope containing 200,000 Taiwan dollars (6,600 US) as encouragement.

According to the island’s Olympic Committee, Taiwan is sending 80 athletes to compete in 15 events including taekwondo, archery, tennis and baseball.

Hopes are high that it can make another breakthrough in Beijing after bringing home a record two golds, two silvers and one bronze from the Athens Games in 2004.

“We are aiming to do better than last time – to win at least three gold medals,” said Tsai Chen-wei, chairman of Taiwan’s Olympic Committee.

Taiwan is betting on taekwondo defending champion Chu Mu-yen, who bagged the island’s first-ever gold medal in the men’s flyweight division in Athens.

Hopes are also high for Chan Yung-Jan and Chuang Chia-Jung, who will make their Olympic debut in women’s tennis in Beijing.

The island’s archery teams, which collected a silver and a bronze in Athens, are also expected to do well.

Taiwan is rolling out hefty rewards for its Olympians – 12 million Taiwan dollars for a gold medal list, seven million for a silver and five million for a bronze.

Looking for precision, perseverance and perfection? Archery is definitely one of your choices.

Archery is one of the most ancient activities for both hunting and warfare. Since the invention of other modern weapons, Bow and Arrow have developed as a sport for the privileged as well as an art. With the establishment of Federation International de Tire L’Arc (FITA) in 1913, Archery entered into the era of sports competition and was formally accepted as an Olympic event since 1972 in Munich. In the same year, Hong Kong Archery Association was also established.

Hong Kong Archery Association, affiliated to the SF&OC (Sports Federation & Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China), AAF (Asian Archery Federation) and FITA, is the governing body of the sport in the territory. The Association currently constitutes of over twenty member clubs that are enthusiastic in promoting archery in Hong Kong. These clubs are founded by different sectors of the community, ranging from societies in various geographic regions to functional organizations. With well-organized regular tournaments, both Outdoor and Indoor, finely established ranking system and recognized representation in overseas competitions, the sport has attracted thousands of keen players in Hong Kong annually.

After decades of active promotion, Archery becomes a sport-for-all event with participation from all arenas of the community. It is a sport requiring not only physical fitness and mental control, but mastering the self and the environment; and the co-ordination of oneself with the equipment. It is definitely a sport suitable for all genders, ages and states of physical ability; a sport for medal as well as for leisure.

In addition to the traditional Olympic style Target Archery (Recurve Division), the Association has been proactively promoting various disciplines of archery that are now developing rapidly worldwide, including Field Archery and Target Archery (Compound Division) for a variety of options. The Association is also endeavouring to promote youth competitions starting this year.  For more information of the sport and the development, you are welcomed to visit the Association’s website at www.archery.org.hk.

The Gyangtse Horseracing & Archery Festival It falls on April 15-18 of the Tibetan calendar, usually around May or June of the Greg orian calendar.

There are different versions of the origin of the festival. During the festival, horse race, archery contest, and other games are performed to entertain people. Religious activities also are part of the event.

While horse racing and archery is popular all over Tibet, festival organizers are proud of the event being the oldest. It w as first held in 1408, when the king of Gyangtse gave a decree marking the period from April 10 through 27 of every year for prayers and sacrificial ceremony for his grandfather with entertainment offered on the 28th. By the mid-17th century, the original ritual ceremonies became symbolic and contests of archery on horseback grew to be the most important events for the festival. Nowadays, with all kinds of entertainment and fairs organized it has become one of the most important festivals in Tibet.

Around May and June every year, people from all over Tibet gather in Gyantse for horseracing, archery, and shooting on gallop, followed by a few days’ entertainment or picnicking. Nowadays, ball games, track and field events, folk songs and dance, as well as barter trade are added.