Preview: Macau Open launches 2020 Indoor Archery World Series

The Indoor Archery World Series returns for its second season this winter.

Starting in Macau, the circuit opens with four 250-level tournaments before the customary final pair in Nimes and Las Vegas, which sit at the 1000-level, in January and February 2020.

(The points indicate both the size of the event and how circuit ranking points are available to the competition winners.)

Competitions in Luxembourg – the GT Open – and Rome – a now title-sponsored TRUBall/Axcel Roma Archery Trophy – will also take place before the New Year. An inaugural event in Australia, the Sydney Archery Festival, comes just afterwards.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The indoor festivities begin at The Venetian and the 2019 Macau Indoor Archery Open.

Among the archers making the trip are world-number-one-ranked compounder Alexis Ruiz, Hyundai Archery World Cup Champion Mike Schloesser, world championship runner-up Paige Pearce and French Olympic silver medallist Jean-Charles Valladont.

Korean pro teams Ulsan Namgu and Busan Metropolitan Corporation will also take part. It will be Busan’s international debut. Last year at this event, Hyundai Department Store’s Ryoo Su Jung set a new world record for the recurve women‘s 18-metre ranking round with 595 out of a possible 600 points.

The winners of the 2019 Macau Open will take an early lead in the Indoor Archery World Series rankings – and a step towards the 2020 Indoor Archery World Series Finals. Qualifiers for that are taken from the season rankings for the four championship categories: recurve men, recurve women, compound men and compound women.

Events on the Indoor Archery World Series, though, are not just for the elite.

The competitions are open entry and designed for mass participation. So, as part of the Macau Open, competitions are being run for traditional, youth and university archers – with early 150 under-17s taking part.

Some highlights from Macau: The ruins of 17th-century St Paul’s church, the various casino hotel and casino complexes on Tapia island and – if you can get an invite – a meal in the Portuguese Military Club in the older part of the city.

Event details

• Name: Macau Indoor Archery Open
• Venue: The Venetian Resort, Macau, China
• Dates: 9-10 November 2019
• Numbers: 321 total; 139 in championship categories (51 recurve men, 24 recurve women, 51 compound men, 13 compound women) 
• Points: 250 (top 16 score)
• Format: 60-arrow 18-metre ranking round followed by matchplay bracket

Coverage

News and pictures on www.worldarchery.sport and across World Archery’s social networks over the weekend. Delayed footage on World Archery’s Facebook page and YouTube channel from Monday 11 November.

Notes

Alexis Ruiz announced her arrival as an elite archer at the Macau Open last year. She then won the Roma Archery Trophy and medalled at every Hyundai Archery World Cup stage in 2019. This year’s compound women’s title in Macau looks like a three-way fight between her, Paige Pearce and Sarah Prieels.

Jean-Charles Valladont, Jerome Bidault and Laurena Villard – better known as the Little Wombats (apparently there’s a valid reason for the name) – could pick up their first team ranking points of the season in Macau. The team competition on the Indoor Archery World Series combines individual points won by team members at each stage. It’s open to companies, clubs, nations and groups of friends. Entries are accepted until Nimes in January but points won’t be backdated.

Reo Wilde is back on the US team for next year’s outdoor season. Reo has always had strong indoor tournaments in Asia, dating back to the stages of this circuit’s predecessor – the Indoor World Cup – in Singapore and Bangkok.

There are 10 Australian archers scheduled to make the 12-plus-hour trip to Macau, including internationals Dave Barnes and Danie Oosthuizen. It’ll be a shorter hop for both to the Sydney Archery Festival in January 2020.

Schedule

• Saturday 9 November: Qualification (recurve in the morning, compound in the afternoon) and secondary tournament.
• Sunday 10 November: Eliminations and finals.

One to watch

Riku van Tonder made the shootdown at the Vegas Shoot in February 2019, posting the first perfect 900 by any archer from New Zealand, and then made his outdoor international debut in May.

He competed at the Hyundai Archery World Cup stage in Shanghai and the Hyundai World Archery Championships in ’s-Hertogenbosch, making the third round at both tournaments.

Not a bad rookie year for the 30-year-old who, expanding his tournament calendar to the Macau Open this indoor season, seems poised to make a mark. Especially if that form from last year in Vegas still holds true.

The first event of the 2020 Indoor Archery World Series is the Macau Open on Saturday 9 and Sunday 10 November 2019.