World Archery Congress concludes in Copenhagen ahead of record-breaking World Championships
Congress votes on Executive Board, approves new member associations and strengthens fight against doping, corruption and discrimination
25 July; Copenhagen, Denmark: The 51st World Archery Congress concluded in Copenhagen today after a packed two-day meeting which saw the elections of the First Vice President, Vice President and members of the Executive Board, the approval of six new member associations and amendments to the World Archery Constitution and Rulebook.
Around 100 countries of World Archery’s global membership were in attendance at the Congress which concluded on the eve of the World Archery Championships. Mario Scarzella (Italy) was re-elected as First Vice President and Philippe Bouclet (France) as Vice President while Eva Thesen (Norway), Jorg Brokamp (Germany), Kotaro Hata (Japan) and Gao Zhidan (China) were re-elected as members of the Executive Board. A number of Olympians and World Champions were also elected onto the numerous World Archery Committees as the Federation aims to ensure that athletes are kept at the very heart of the Olympic sport.
The Congress continued to demonstrate World Archery’s commitment to Olympic Agenda with the approval of amendments to the World Archery Constitution and Rulebook which strengthened the Federation’s fight against doping, corruption and discrimination and promoted good governance. The Congress also unanimously approved Albania, Bolivia, Guyana, Liberia, Mali and UAE as full member associations with Zimbabwe also being re-affiliated, taking the Federation’s total number of members to 153 and demonstrating its commitment to developing archery worldwide.
IOC President Dr Thomas BACH sent a recorded video message to the Congress in which he praised the sport of archery for being “at the forefront of change throughout history” and highlighted the under-construction World Archery Excellence Centre as another example of this commitment to change and development.
Speaking after the Congress, World Archery President Prof Dr Ugur ERDENER said: “This has been a highly productive Congress. As we have seen today we are committed to looking to the future as we continue to grow and develop. As President Dr BACH kindly said, archery has always been at the forefront of change and with newly elected members of our Executive Board, a growing number of member associations, and amendments to our Constitution and Rulebook I am confident we will continue to evolve and find innovative ways to ensure archery remains attractive to our athletes and fans.
“Under the visionary leadership of President Dr BACH and Olympic Agenda 2020 we have an excellent opportunity to really develop archery and realise its full global potential. We have a very exciting time ahead of us with the World Archery Championships beginning tomorrow and Rio 2016 just a year away. I have no doubt that our friends here in Copenhagen will deliver an outstanding event and we will be treated to some dramatic and world-class competition.”