Preview: Olympic stars appear as the Indoor World Series rolls on in Taipei

The Taipei Archery Open returns this weekend for a fourth edition in Taoyuan City, held once again at the NTSU Arena after a venue change last year.

The third stop on this year’s mass-participation Indoor Archery World Series, the event has opened a new dimension to the indoor circuit in the post-pandemic era, attracting European and North American internationals as well as top archers from across Asia and a strong field of homegrown talent.

The event is notable for its focus on youth. Just 197 of the 478 currently registered athletes are in senior categories, while 281 are split across three junior groups – under-21, under-15 and under-13 – reflecting the huge number of school and university archers in Chinese Taipei and elsewhere in Asia. In a high-tech nation, the event has also seen trials of brand-new broadcast technology.

While some previous editions saw only a handful of Korean athletes through the doors, this year 63 of their archers have entered, including professionals like 2020 Olympic Champion An San and reigning World Champion Kang Chaeyoung, along with dozens of the nation’s best youth archers.

Other well-known international archers in attendance include Mike and Gaby Schloesser – who both won their respective categories at the first Taipei Open in 2022 and have returned every year since – Amanda Mlinaric, Baptiste Addis, Jean-Charles Valladont, Ankita Bhakat, and Jyothi Surekha Vennam.

You can watch the finals of the Taipei Archery Open on Sunday with a subscription to archery+.