Archers test Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic venue for the first time

This year’s national championships in Brazil is the first time an archery competition takes place in the next Olympic and Paralympic venue.

It’s the first of four times in the next two years the sport will call the Sambodromo home. At the end of 2015 is the official AcqueceRio test event – before the two Games in summer 2016.

While this competition is not an official test event for the Rio Games, the 216 Brazilian athletes at the event are the first to receive a first-hand experience of how it feels to shoot in the Sambodromo.

Among the competitors are Amazonian indigenous archers, who were selected as part of an outreach development programme to engage the native populace of the region with the sport ahead of the Olympics.

This year’s Archery World Cup and Youth Olympic Games silver medallist, 16-year-old Marcus DALMEDIA, is also shooting.

Rio 2016 and Brazilian Olympic Committee President Carlos NUZMAN and Rio Mayor Eduardo PAES attended the opening of the 40th Brazilian Archery Championships on Wednesday.

PAES shot the first arrow of the tournament under the coaching and guidance of DALMEIDA.

Qualification and eliminations run until late on Friday, with the finals held throughout Saturday.

The Sambodromo hosts the world-famous Rio carnival parades performed by the city’s samba schools each year, concerts for national and international artists – and is the first venue to be delivered for the Rio 2016 Games.

It underwent renovation in 2012, which expanded its capacity from 60,000 to 72,500 spectators.

As well as hosting the Olympic and Paralympic archery events at Rio 2016, the finishing line for the marathon will be situated in the Sambodromo.

Watch a live stream of finals matches from Brazil’s national championships this weekend.