900 archers compete in Chinese Taipei’s President Cup

Nearly 900 archers, aged from 10 to 40 years old, competed at the President Cup, Chinese Taipei’s season-ending outdoor competition in November.

“The aim is to promote archery participation at all levels,” says Yen-Lin Chen, Secretary General of the Chinese Taipei Archery Association. “We include competition categories for elementary, junior high and senior high school athletes, university archers and an open tournament.”

(Sports in Chinese Taipei is based heavily on the education system.)

The event, one of three major domestic tournamnets, has grown three times larger over the past decade. Ten years ago less than 300 athletes attended.

To motivate the younger athletes, World Archery rules are adapted and recurve ranking rounds held at 20, 30 and 50 metres, along with the standard 70 for university and open competitors. There’s also a compound open category.

Elite archers like Lin Shih-Chia, silver medallist at the World Archery Championships in Copenhagen, and veteran Kuo Cheng-Wei competed. Shih-Chia took gold in the collegiate women’s individual event. The idea is that archers learn from competing alongside these top athletes, increasing the competitive level, confidence and interest across the board.

Most encouraging is the improvement from the youngest ranks.

The recurve girl’s 20-metre ranking round national record was broken by a point. It had stood at 355 and was held by Tan Ya-Ting – now a regular member of the Chinese Taipei international team.

“The continued growth of the President Cup is vital,” says Yen-Lin Chen. “We expect more young archers to join the event, as the senior ones continue competing throughout the years. In this way, archers from all levels can compete with each other, learn from each other and keep developing the sport of archery in Chinese Taipei.”