Table of contents for Issue 141 in Bow International

In the last issue of Bow, there was a tiny box on the news page about the potential impact of coronavirus on the archery world, and how so far it had merely stopped a couple of Korean archers flying to Vegas. I had a strong inkling then that that wasn't nearly the last of it. The world of international sport has now been thrown into total chaos, with the archery World Cup circuit looking like it may not happen at all this year, and the Olympics and Paralympics finally postponed to 2021, after many weeks of speculation. (More about that on page 8). You will likely be reading this sometime in April 2020, amid a pandemic which has finally engulfed the world. You're very likely thinking about new concepts like…

I've feel always thought that the hardest thing for novice archers is attempting to understand and navigate the technical minefield that is unfortunately an essential part of archery. It’s really easy to over whelmed and incompetent. Whilst you can still shoot good scores without having technical knowledge, there are situations where an understanding is essential – especially when it comes to making a purchase. Most archers at some point or another have bought an incompatible item or something that’s the wrong size or weight. Purchase mistakes are especially prevalent when it comes to arrows, as there are multiple weights and dimensions to get right. It’s normally pretty straightforward if you’re using parts native to the brand and model of the arrow shaft, but there are lots of occasions where you…

Physical conditioning is just one part of sport performance, just like the technical aspects, the mental skills, the material, and the environment. Archery may be ultimately simple, but it is not natural – none of us were born an archer. We must become one. For this reason it’s always necessary to improve the physical condition to be able to repeat the same shot, arrow after arrow. Typical club archers sometimes forget that archery is a physical sport. For example, if you shoot 200 arrows with a 20 kilo (44 pound) bow it makes a total of four tonnes drawn at the end of the training session. For many years now elite archers have been developing their physical conditioning more and more, for these reasons: • to increase their training capacity•…

There are so many amazing exercises out there for archery that all archers should have in their “gym quiver”, but I think if any upper body sport had to choose one exercise, that is fairly straight forward and accessible to all it would be the press-up, also known as the push-up. Here is why press-ups are great. Not only does a press up work your upper body, it works you all over great and can even give you a great core work out too. Some of the muscles that they work are; the pecs (chest muscles), triceps, biceps (arm muscles), shoulder muscles, lower back and ab muscles. These are muscles you use every day, so there should no issues with completing press-ups every day, so doing 10 before bed and…

COVID-19 UPENDS INTERNATIONAL ARCHERY, EVERYTHING ELSE The world of sport – hobby, club, national and international – has ground to a halt across the globe, with many countries under severe restrictions to prevent the further spread of COVID-19, the novel coronavirus that emerged in China at the end of 2019 and is still spreading throughout the world. With no sure end date in sight for the outbreak, the archery world has seen dozens of tournaments cancelled all over the world, and the Olympic Games has been suspended to 2021 (see page 8 for many more details). High profile casualties include the Olympic qualifiers in Oceania and the Pan-American Championships, as well as the first World Cup stage of the year in Guatemala. Many competitions and championships had been building towards…

One of the handful of nations to continue selecting archers for Tokyo 2020, Japan refined its squad down to final fives for the now rescheduled Olympics, behind closed doors on the 21-22 March. The second phase consisted of four 72-arrow rounds. Heavy winds led to upsets, with Kaori Kawanaka, Yuki Hayashi and world number four Tomomi Sugimoto all eliminated. Leading the trials is Takaharu Furukawa, despite shooting a miss in the first round. Ren Hayakawa is leading the women’s trials. Both Hayakawa and Furukawa are veterans and medallists from London 2012.…

I enjoyed my beginners’ course enormously; it was very rewarding. But I don’t remember being taught anything about basic bow set-up, or even simple maintenance tasks: that had to wait for my coaching course. Until then I relied on the kindness of strangers. “You need a jig” they’d say, leaving me confused as how a dance could possibly mend an arrow. Clearly, they were winding the new boy up. And what possible use could a Bray Sight Gauge be? How did it differ from those used in other rounds? Most archery shops will sell you a standard beginners recurve setup with a risers, string, limbs and so on. But if you carry on archery, you will need a pile of other things too, some of which is essential from the…

Beware the conscious mind We have all been there at the start of a shoot, feeling confident, the week’s training has gone well and even the weather is playing ball. We step up on the line and practice ends confirm that we are in for a good day. Practice over… and it all starts to go downhill. Or perhaps we are on for a personal best, a top three placing and/or a new shiny badge, so all we have to do is shoot the last few arrows in the same way as the previous shots. But then it becomes hard to execute the shot and we find ourselves anxiously looking through our scope in the hope the arrow has landed in the right scoring zone. Finally, by far the most…

Over 8,500 people from 31 countries attended the 2020 ATA. In Issue 140, we looked at new products from Easton, Win & Win, Axcel, Last Chance Archery, TopHat, STAN and others. In this issue, we wrap up our ATA coverage with some more of the many new products on display. AAE Arizona Archery Enterprises, aka AAE is responsible for some of the best known products worldwide, including their Elite recurve tab (formerly known as the Cavalier) and the WAV vane, used by recurve and compound alike. They also manufacture Easton’s nocks and do R&D for other companies (they are keen for you to get in touch if you have any bright ideas for new archery gear). New and newish gear they had out in Indianapolis include the Trad Vane, designed…

The Archery Association of India (AAI) on Saturday decided to launch the Indian Archery League (IAL), to feature top Indian and overseas archers, in the latest development for the lively world of Indian sport. The AAI has developed a committee to explore the possibilities of the new league, which follows similar developments in Taiwan and Korea. “We have spoken to some houses in the private sector and we have got three or four options. We will have our first meeting in March when we will find the way forward,” chairman Virendra Sachdeva told Indian news website Sportstar. The AAI is also developing a grass-roots initiative called ‘Archery Mahakumb,’ involving over 10,000 archers who use bamboo bows and arrows, from 700 districts, including residential schools to be opened all over the…

With a modern three piece recurve bow, we do not hold the bow in the centre. This means that we do not draw the limbs back evenly; if the limb bolts are set equal most target archers shooting with a Mediterranean release will draw the top limb back further than the bottom limb. The uneven draw creates an imbalance in the bow’s efficiency. In the past bowyers would allow for this by balancing the limbs so that they worked together in beautiful harmony. This balancing is known as “tillering the bow”. With today’s modern International Limb Fit (ILF) bows, this adjustment is now the responsibility of the archer. Unfortunately the cost benefits of ILF and the mixing and matching of limbs and risers from different manufacturers means that there is…

For the third time, an international horse archery competition is taking place here in Iran: in the desert city of Yazd 2017, in picturesque Shiraz 2018 and in 2019 at the foot of the Alborz Mountains near Tehran. Last year I was already among the participants, which changed my mind about the country. Of course, I have to adhere to the strict dress code of the women, including the headscarf, but I am really looking forward to the friendly and warm Iranians themselves. The most important basic requirement is a well trained horse. There are no particularly preferred breeds because the animals do not have to do anything extraordinary or unphysiological. Only a calm mind is an advantage. Regarding the shooting technique, the scene can be roughly divided into "Mediterranean"…