The art of shooting an arrow using a bow was in the bygone ages a military weapon as well as a hunting method prior to the invention of gunpowder. It is mainly confined to a competitive sport used for target shooting.
A bow is a weapon that fires arrows using the elasticity of the bow. The bow is constructed from a strip of flexible material with a cord linking the two ends of the strip to provide tension to fire the arrow. An arrow is a straight shaft with a sharp point on one end and usually with feathers or flights at the other end.
The modern day ‘Target Archery’ involves shooting arrows at a target from a pre-set distance. A Recurve bow is the only type of bow now used. Archery competitions may be held indoors or outdoors. Indoor distances are 18 m and 25 m. Outdoor distances range from 30 m to 90m depending on the seniority and 70 m is being used in the Olympic Games. Olympic posters of earlier Games together with Olympic Gifts and other memorabilia are available from http://bestolympicgifts.com
Competition is divided into ends where an archer shoots either 3 or 6 arrows per end, depending on the type of round. There are 20 ends of 3 arrows in a round for indoor competition, but outdoor rounds generally involve more arrows per round. After the end, (or at the end of the end –I’ve always wanted to say that)the competitors go to the target to score and retrieve their arrows.
Targets are (marked|painted} with 10 evenly spaced concentric rings, which have score values from 1 to10. Targets are coloured as follows:
Outermost 1 ring … 2 ring – white
3 ring … 4 ring – black
5 ring … 6 ring – blue
7 ring … 8 ring – red
Innermost 9 rings … 10 ring – gold
There is an innermost ring, sometimes called the 10X ring or, to you and me –the bull’s eye.
Archers have a set time limit in which to shoot their arrows. For indoor competition is 2 minutes for 3 arrows. Signalling devices such as lights and flags prompt the archers for start and finish.
The score for each arrow depends upon where it hits on the target. The highest score, a ten, is awarded by shooting an arrow into the two inner most circles. The bull’eye is typically used as a tie breaker.. Missing the rings on the target results in a zero score and in case of line breaker (where an arrow just touches a boundary line) will be awarded the higher score. Scores are tallied at the end of each round or volley of arrows by summing the scores for their arrows which are recorded on a score sheet.
