Archery
Tokyo Olympics: Archery - A look at all the events and categories
We have all seen archery in television at some point of time but do we really know what are the events and its rules. Let's find out what are the various archery events and categories in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Indian Archery Team for Tokyo Olympics
Archery was first introduced in the 1900 Olympics games, with women's event added in the next Olympics, making it one of the earliest sports for both men and women. By featuring in 16 editions of the Olympics, it is one of the oldest sports in Olympics history.
Till 2016 Rio Olympics, there were only 4 events contested in archery, but now at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, they have made it to 5 events by including mixed team event. A total of 128 archers are expected to compete across 5 categories (64 men and 64 women). Let's take a look at the various events and categories.
Individual event
The rules are identical for both men and women in the individual event.
• 64 Archers will start with an initial ranking round.
• Each archer has to shoot 72 arrows.
• Best shoot gets you a maximum of 10 points.
• After 72 shots which can give you a maximum score of 720, archers will be seeded 1-64 based on their score.
• Then all 64 archers play against each other in an elimination format. E.g., 1st seed will play 64th seed, and 2nd seed will play 63rd seed.
• The elimination match is best-of-five sets, with each archer getting three arrows to shoot in each set.
• If the archer wins a set, he/she will be awarded with two points, and one point in the case of both the archer's scores are tied.
• Archer, who reaches 6 points first, is declared as the winner.
• If the scores are tied at the end of five sets, then it will be a shoot-off.
• Shoot-off – Each archer will be given one arrow, and whoever hits close to the target will be adjudged as the winners.
Team event
The rules are the same for both men and women in the team event.
• The ranking round which happened for individual event determines the seeding for team event too.
• Teams are seeded 1-12 based on aggregating the individual scores of archers from each team in the ranking round.
• The top 4 seeded teams will get a direct entry into the quarter-finals.
• Teams seeded 5-12 will fight out against each other to take up the remaining 4 spots in the quarter-final.
• Unlike individual event, each team gets 6 arrows per set.
• If the scores are tied at the end of five sets, every player from each team will get an arrow, and whichever team hits closest to the target is adjudged as the winner.
Mixed team event
• 16 pairs, one from men and one from women, qualify for the mixed team event.
• Top men's score and top women's score is combined from each team.
• Then, the top-16 combinations are seeded 1-16.
• A team gets four arrows in a set, with each player getting 2.
• Rest all the rules are the same as a team event.
