World Archery Federation facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
World Archery Federation

Abbreviation	WA (formerly FITA)
Formation	4 September 1931; 93 years ago (1931-09-04)
Type	Federation of national associations
Headquarters	Lausanne, Switzerland
Region served	Worldwide
Membership	159 national and other associations
Official language	English
President	Uğur Erdener
First Vice-president	Mario Scarzella
Affiliations	International Olympic Committee, International World Games Association

The World Archery Federation (WA) is the main group that runs the sport of archery around the world. It used to be called FITA. Its main office is in Lausanne, Switzerland.

WA includes 159 national archery groups and other associations. The International Olympic Committee officially recognizes it. This means WA helps make sure archery is a fair and exciting sport for everyone.

History of World Archery

The World Archery Federation started on September 4, 1931. It was founded in Lwow, Poland, which is now Lviv, Ukraine. Seven countries helped start it: France, Czechoslovakia, Sweden, Poland, the United States, Hungary, and Italy.

The main goal of the new group was to create regular archery championships. They also wanted to bring archery back to the Olympic Games. Archery had not been in the Olympics since 1920. WA finally succeeded in getting archery back into the Olympics for the 1972 Summer Olympics.

In July 2011, the group celebrated its 80th birthday. Most members voted to change the name from FITA to the World Archery Federation, or WA.

In March 2022, WA made a big decision. Because of the conflict in Ukraine, they announced that athletes from Russia or Belarus could not join any international archery events. Their flags and anthems were also banned. No archery events would be held in those two countries.

In December 2023, World Archery started its own online video service. It lets people watch live archery events and other videos by signing up.

What is the WA Flag?

Flag of the World Archery Federation

World Archery Federation

Use	Sport
Proportion	3:5
Adopted	1 April 2012
Design	White field with a WA logo

The flag of the World Archery Federation is simple. It has a white background. In the middle, you can see the official WA logo.

Who are the Members?

As of April 2019, 159 national archery groups are members of World Archery. These groups come from all over the world. They help organize archery in their own countries.

Archery Rankings

World Archery keeps track of world rankings for different types of competitive archery. These rankings are updated after every official event. They show who the top archers are.

Archers earn points based on how well they do in competitions. The points also depend on how important the tournament is. An archer's four best scores are added together to create their ranking score. This score helps decide their place on the ranking list.

Current Top Archers

Current number one ranked archers

• Updated 2 May 2024

Discipline	Men	Men's Team	Women	Women's Team	Mixed Team
Recurve	Marcus D'Almeida (BRA)	South Korea	Casey Kaufhold (USA)	South Korea	South Korea
Compound	Mike Schloesser (NED)	India	Ella Gibson (GBR)	India	United States

Archery Championships

The table below shows where all the World Championships on the current World Archery schedule have been held.

Year	World Championships
	Outdoor	Indoor	Youth	Para	Field	University	3D
1931	Lwów
1932	Warsaw
1933	London
1934	Båstad
1935	Brussels
1936	Prague
1937	Paris
1938	London
1939	Oslo
1946	Stockholm
1947	Prague
1948	London
1949	Paris
1950	Copenhagen
1952	Brussels
1953	Oslo
1955	Helsinki
1957	Prague
1958	Brussels
1959	Stockholm
1960
1961	Oslo
1962
1963	Helsinki
1965	Västerås
1966
1967	Amersfoort
1968
1969	Valley Forge				Valley Forge
1970
1971	York				Cardiff
1973	Grenoble
1974					Zagreb
1975	Interlaken
1977	Canberra
1979	Berlin
1981	Punta Ala
1982					Kingsclere
1983	Los Angeles
1984					Hyvinkää
1985	Seoul
1986					Radstadt
1987	Adelaide
1989	Lausanne
1990					Loen
1991	Kraków	Oulu	Sandefjord
1992					Margraten
1993	Antalya	Perpignan	Moliets-et-Maa
1994			Roncegno		Vertus
1995	Jakarta	Birmingham
1996			Chula Vista		Kranjska Gora	Vaulx-en-Velin
1997	Victoria	Istanbul
1998			Sunne	Stoke Mandeville	Obergurgl	Taoyuan
1999	Riom	Havana		Christchurch
2000			Belfort		Cortina d'Ampezzo	Madrid
2001	Beijing	Florence		Nymburk
2002			Nymburk		Canberra	Chonburi
2003	New York	Nîmes		Madrid			Sully-sur-Loire
2004			Lilleshall		Plitvice	Madrid
2005	Madrid	Aalborg		Massa Carrara			Genoa
2006			Mérida		Gothenburg	Viničné
2007	Leipzig	İzmir		Cheongju			Sopron
2008			Antalya		Llwynypia	Tainan
2009	Ulsan	Rzeszów	Ogden	Nymburk			Latina
2010					Visegrád	Shenzhen
2011	Turin		Legnica	Turin			Donnersbach
2012		Las Vegas
2013	Belek		Wuxi	Bangkok			Sassari
2014		Nîmes
2015	Copenhagen		Yankton	Donaueschingen			Terni
2016		Ankara
2017	Mexico City		Rosario	Beijing			Wrocław
2018		Yankton
2019	's-Hertogenbosch		Madrid	's-Hertogenbosch			Lac La Biche
2021	Yankton		Wrocław		Yankton
2022				Dubai			Terni
2023	Berlin		Limerick	Plzeň

Archery Events

Archery at the Summer Olympics

Sharon Vennard and Yan Huilian at the 2012 Summer Paralympics

Some targets and a windsock at the 2012 Summer Paralympics

Archery first appeared at the Summer Olympic Games in 1900. After a long break, it became a regular Olympic sport again in 1972. Team events were added in 1988. Today, only recurve archery is part of the Olympics.

Archery is also a sport at the Summer Paralympics. Both recurve and compound bows are used there. You can also find archery at the Youth Olympic Games (recurve only) and the World Games (field archery only).

World Archery Championships

• World Target Championships
  • World Outdoor Archery Championships
  • World Indoor Archery Championships
• World Field Archery Championships
• World 3D Archery Championships
• World Ski Archery Championships
• World Para Archery Championships
• World Youth Archery Championships
• World University Archery Championships

World Archery started holding Target World Championships in 1931. These events happened every year until 1959. After that, they started happening every two years. In 1959, the first World Field Championship was also held.

Currently, there are five main types of World Archery Championships. These are Outdoor, Indoor, Youth, Para-Archery, and Field. Each of these is held every two years. World Championships are also held every two years for 3D archery and University sports.

Archery World Cup

The Archery World Cup is an event that started in 2006. It was created to show off archery in amazing places around the world.

The World Cup has four rounds held throughout the year. The best archers from these rounds then compete in the World Cup Final. This final event happens at the end of the year.

An indoor World Cup also started in 2010–11. It has three rounds and a final during the winter.

Other Archery Events

Archery can also be an optional sport at the Universiade (a multi-sport event for university athletes). It is also sometimes included in the Commonwealth Games.

Current Archery Champions

Here are the current champions for the main World Archery Federation events:

Discipline	Event	Summer Olympics 2020 (postponed to 2021)	World Championships 2023	World Cup Series Final 2023
Recurve	Men's Individual	Mete Gazoz (TUR)	Mete Gazoz (TUR)	Marcus D'Almeida (BRA)
	Women's Individual	An San (KOR)	Marie Horáčková (CZE)	Kang Chae-young (KOR)
	Men's Team	South Korea (KOR) Kim Je-deok Kim Woo-jin Oh Jin-hyek	South Korea (KOR) Kim Je-deok Kim Woo-jin Lee Woo-seok
	Women's Team	South Korea (KOR) An San Jang Min-hee Kang Chae-young	Germany (GER) Katharina Bauer Michelle Kroppen Charline Schwarz
	Mixed Team	South Korea (KOR) An San Kim Je-deok	South Korea Lim Si-hyeon Kim Woo-jin
Compound	Men's Individual		Ojas Pravin Deotale (IND)	Mathias Fullerton (DEN)
	Women's Individual		Aditi Gopichand Swami (IND)	Sara López (COL)
	Men's Team		Poland Rafał Dobrowolski Przemysław Konecki Łukasz Przybylski
	Women's Team		India Parneet Kaur Aditi Gopichand Swami Jyothi Surekha Vennam
	Mixed Team		United States Alexis Ruiz Sawyer Sullivan

Presidents of World Archery

Period	Name	Country
1931	Mieczysław Fularski	Poland
1931 – 1939	Bronisław Pierzchała	Poland
1946 – 1949	Paul Demare	France
1949 – 1957	Henry Kjellson	Sweden
1957 – 1961	Oscar Kessels	Belgium
1961 – 1977	Inger Kristine Frith	United Kingdom
1977 – 1989	Francesco Gnecchi-Ruscone	Italy
1989 – 2005	James L. Easton	United States
2005 –	Uğur Erdener	Turkey

See also

In Spanish: Federación Mundial de Tiro con Arco para niños

• List of shooting sports organizations