Archery is the skill and sport of using a bow completed with arrows to shoot at a target. The word “Archery” is derived from the Latin word ‘Arcus’ meaning, “Bow”. The oldest known evidence of bows and arrows have been found in Eurasia dating back 60,000 years, making archery not only a very old sport but a prominent form of hunting for food and protection from enemies.
Archery has existed in Sri Lanka since the time of the kings, as we have read and learnt in history books. The Veddah community of Sri Lanka still practices the art of archery in areas such as Dambana and Mahiyangana. Their bows are made of material such as animal bones and wood, while modern bows are made of metals such as carbon and aluminum.
Archery is divided into different sections depending on the type of bow used. The compound bow, recurve bow, bare bow and long bow are some of them. The most prominent type of archery is recurve archery as this is the only category in the Olympics.
The distances that archers have to shoot vary according to their age category. As an example, archers in the under 14 category would shoot a distance of 18 metres. Some of the most prominent tournaments in the archery atmosphere are the Olympics, Vegas Shoot, World Championships and the South Asian games. There are many well recognised archers in the world but one of the most prominent male archers is Brady Ellison. He has won 3 Olympic gold medals and holds the record for the longest time a man has held the number one ranking in the world.
Tharuni Samarakkody
Maitland Archery Academy.