World Archery suspends recognition of national event calendars during COVID-19 outbreak

World Archery executive board has suspended the international federation’s recognition of national events in its calendar for the purposes of world records, performance awards and minimum qualifying scores for major events.

The reasons were fairness, solidarity between countries and to send a clear message that health comes first.

While the board cannot decree that no national or local events are held, the decision is accompanied by a strong recommendation that all competitions are halted worldwide until the situation improves.

The suspension of the calendar will run concurrently with the suspension of international competition, which is currently in place until the end of June.

With no new results being recorded, the world rankings will also be effectively frozen from 1 April. There will be no new ranking list issued until events resume.

The executive board, which met via conference call on Monday 30 March, also approved a strategy for rescheduling the 2020 season and preliminary plans for adjustments to qualification procedures and next year’s calendar due to the delay of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

The Games will now start on 23 July 2021.