National Archery Olympic Championships open in Tongchuan

The 2019 National Archery Olympic Championship and the 2020 Tokyo Olympic National Team Selection Competition opened on Monday in Tongchuan, Shaanxi province in Northwest China.

A total of 466 athletes from 35 national teams participated in the competition.

The event will last for 8 days. There are individual, group and mixed elimination competitions for men and women. The winner of the competition will have the opportunity to represent China in the Olympic Games.

Archery existed for a long time in ancient China, but as a sport it started late in China. At present, Korea, the United States, Denmark and other countries have strong strength in this field.

At the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, Zhang Juanjuan, a Chinese athlete, achieved a breakthrough of a gold medal in archery for the Chinese team. At the World Archery Championships held in June 2019, the Chinese archery team won the men's team championship and also won full seats in the Tokyo Olympic Games.

The competition is sponsored by the Shooting and Archery Management Center of the State General Administration of Sports, the Chinese Archery Association, the Shaanxi Sports Bureau and the Tongchuan Municipal People's Government. The Shooting and Archery Management Center of Shaanxi Province and the Tongchuan Municipal Sports Bureau are also responsible for this event.

"The National Archery Olympic Championship is the first national archery competition hosted by Tongchuan City, and is also the top event in the field of archery in the country. It is of great significance for Tongchuan to build a strong sports city and promote the development of sports undertakings," said Tongchuan Vice Mayor Li Rong at the opening ceremony.

In recent years, Tongchuan has successively held sports events with a certain influence in the country, vigorously promoting the "sports + tourism" model, developing the sports tourism industry, promoting the transformation and development of Tongchuan, and continuously improving the happiness and sense of access of local people. This event is the highest standard national sports event ever held in Tongchuan city.