Archery bids for inclusion at Victoria 2026 Commonwealth Games

World Archery and Archery Australia have officially applied for archery’s inclusion in the sports programme of the next Commonwealth Games, which are due to take place in Victoria in 2026.

The sport has featured twice before at the multisport event, first in Brisbane in 1982 and then in Delhi in 2010.

Australia, the host of the next Games, has collected three medals including a gold – courtesy of its recurve men’s team in India – over those two editions and sits third in archery’s all-time Commonwealth medal table. (Behind only England and India.) 

“Archery is a sport that is growing, especially among young people,” wrote World Archery secretary general Tom Dielen in support of the submission for Victoria 2026.

“We have come with a unique proposal, prioritising team competition and combining para and able-bodied athletes, that evidences the forward-thinking of our sport. If successful, it will enhance the development of para archery, especially in Africa and the Caribbean while assisting its integration in Asia-Pacific.”

Neither of archery’s previous appearances at the Games has included para archery events, although then-Paralympic Champion Danielle Brown notably competed in 2010 and Neroli Fairhall, who would become the first para athlete to compete at the Olympic Games in 1984, won the recurve women’s event in 1982. 

The submission for the sport’s addition in Victoria outlines two format possibilities for the event.

The first option calls for eight doubles competitions. This includes four traditional mixed team events for recurve, compound, recurve open (para) and compound open (para) archers and four doubles events for recurve men, recurve women, compound men and compound women.

Mixed teams consist of one male and one female archer. Doubles consist of two archers of the same gender – but in this unique proposal, the doubles consist of one able-bodied and one para archer.

The second option retains the combined able-bodied and para doubles format but replaces the four traditional mixed team events with the corresponding eight individual competitions.

Victoria is expected to add up to five additional sports to the 16 already announced for the programme.

Archery’s proposal will be assessed, alongside those from other sports, against criteria including universality, competition quality, consumer and commercial appeal, alignment with Commonwealth values and benefits to the host of the Games.

A decision is expected before the end of 2022.