World Archery Youth Championships Showcase Archery's Global Development

The week-long World Archery Youth Championships concluded in Yankton, USA, this weekend with athletes from more than 15 different countries winning medals - demonstrating the broad and diverse participation in archery around the world.

Among the gold medalists in Yankton was Fatimah Almashhadani, who won compound cadet women’s gold, making her the first individual archer from Iraq ever to win a gold medal at an international archery event. Marcus D'Almeida, the youngest-ever qualifier for an Archery World Cup Final, also made history by becoming the first Brazilian to win a world champion title as he claimed the recurve cadet men’s gold.

The emergence of world-class archers from these nations highlights the global development of the sport as part of World Archery’s ongoing commitment to making archery a sport for all. The construction of the World Archery Excellence Centre will further enhance the federation’s drive to empower its global membership to increase participation and will serve as a hub for the development of Olympic, elite and recreational archery worldwide. Work on the Excellence Centre has begun and is expected to be completed after the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Speaking after the World Archery Youth Championships, World Archery President Prof Dr Ugur Erdener said:

"We have enjoyed a fantastic Youth Championships in Yankton. All of the athletes received a very warm welcome, the organisation was excellent and the standard of archery was very high.

"Perhaps most pleasing was seeing the emergence of athletes from countries not traditionally associated with archery. The success of these athletes was further evidence of the growing popularity and development of our sport throughout the world. We are striving for a world where everyone has the opportunity to make the sport of archery their elite or recreational activity of choice and - step by step - we are moving closer to that. We are working with all of our member associations to increase participation from grass roots to elite level and it was clear this week that this is paying off. Archery has a very exciting future and I have no doubt that in the years ahead we will see even more archers coming through and winning their country’s first medals in archery."

A list of all the results from the World Archery Youth Championships can be found on the World Archery website, www.worldarchery.org and a library of photographs from the competition can be accessed on www.worldarchery.smugmug.com

For more information, contact:

World Archery Communications Manager

Mr Chris Wells

email: cwells@archery.org

telephone: +41 79 947 55 20

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