Interview with Guo Bei, Vice President of World Archery Asia

Draw the bow to the fullest and shoot the arrow -- in ancient days archery had always been an indispensable skill of a great warrior. 

The archers in the modern arena are often admired for their valiant posture. And the sport remains one of the most popular events in large-scale athletic contests. 

The Hangzhou Asian Games archery event is to be held in the Fuyang Yinhu Sports Centre. Featuring winding corridors, rolling steps and beautiful curved slopes, the venue combines multiple elements such as hilly landscapes, pools, trees, grass, architecture and sculptures to create an elegant Chinese garden setting. 

Hangzhou Asian Games interviewed Guo Bei, vice president of World Archery Asia and a FITA technical representative, who looks forward to seeing many records set in the event at the Hangzhou Games. 

Yang Xiaolei checking her score during the women's individual archery qualifying game at the Tokyo Olympics.

Archery in Asia stands among the best in the world

According to Ms. Guo, World Archery Asia currently has 40 national federations, and the continent's archery is among the strongest in the world. ROK, China, Japan, India and other Asian

countries and regions have repeatedly competed for gold and silver medals in events like the Olympic Games, World Championships. Since the 1980s, the Korean archery team (especially the women) have been among the world's leading ranks.

China is also one of the world's top teams. In the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, for the first

time, China took part in the archery competition, in which Li Lingjuan won the women's individual silver medal. So far, the country has won five silver medals in women's individual and team archery and two bronze medals in men's.

In addition, many Asian countries, such as Malaysia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Bangladesh and others cannot be underestimated in archery. Bangladesh, which joined the sport in 2010, won third place in the men's individual archery World Championships in 2019 and qualified for the Olympic Games for the first time in its history.

It can be said that the archery competition in the Asian Games is a contest between top players, with a fierceness no less than the World Archery Championships.

A witness to the growing power of Chinese sports in general

As the vice president of the World Archery Asia, Guo, a former archer, has been an Olympic Games referee since the Barcelona Games in 1992. In the Tokyo Olympic Games, she had a new identity — a technical representative for the Federation of International Target Archery (FITA). 

From an athlete to a referee and then to a technical representative, Guo's love for archery can be traced back to the 1980s. And the experience of four Olympic refereeing also earns her the worthy title of a "veteran Olympic athlete". 

Referring to the experience of the Tokyo Olympics, even for a woman who has participated in the games many times, she could not help but saying that it was a "special Olympics". "Despite the impact of the pandemic, the archery competition in the Tokyo Olympics was outstanding, where several Olympic records were achieved. Archery won the honour of "the sport with the fastest growing number of spectators" during the Tokyo Olympics, which further expanded its influence. 

As a referee and a technical representative, Ms. Guo has witnessed the growing power of sports in China. In recent years, the performance of the Chinese referees in international competitions has been highly recognized. 

The well-equipped Fuyang Yinhu Sports Centre

Expecting to see more new records in Hangzhou 

Talking about Hangzhou 2022, Guo Bei looks forward to it very much. She said that as one of the newly built venues for the Hangzhou Asian Games, the archery range at the Fuyang Yinhu Sports 

Centre is overshadowed by a mountain. The whole site is well planned and nice to look at, with complete and abundant supporting facilities. "I believe that this venue will create the conditions for athletes to perform brilliantly in competitions. I am looking forward to seeing athletes from Asian countries (regions) doing well in competitions and breaking national (regional) records, Asian records and even world records there." 

According to Ms. Guo, the Hangzhou 2022 archery event contains 10 disciplines, the largest number in the history of the Asian Games archery events. Based on the current entry application, it will also have the largest number of participants, and participating countries and regions in history. 

"I am confident that with the joint efforts of all, the Hangzhou Asian Games will be a great success and all participants, including athletes, coaches, officials and technical officials from different countries and regions, will be satisfied."