9/28/2023 0 Comments Li jing bow and arrow![]() This he says is due in part to the emergence of archery depicted in TV shows and film. But he does feel that there are more and more people taking it up. ![]() “Archery is not such a popular sport here and not many people are interested in it,” Wang says. Most members, he says, never use the facilities but those who do (about 200 regulars) come in the evenings after work or on the weekends when the club is busiest. According to Wang, the club was founded 3 years ago in 2010 and is the largest of its kind in Beijing. “An arrow would go straight through your body if you got hit from that range,” jokes Wang Zongwei, 25, manager at Sunny Focus. They walk up to the targets tallying up their scores and to retrieve their arrows. When everyone is finished there is a collective nod to check for safety. Paper targets hang precariously on large wooden toothpicks. At both ends, banks of hay-filled sacks climb two-thirds up the walls. The ones standing erect look like anorexic electric Flying V guitars but on diet pills. Photo- Li Hao,GTįlanking the sides of the large warehouse that is the club’s interior are banks of modern bows. Wang Zongwei, manager of the Beijing Sunny Focus Sports Club. “The entrance fees pay for the trophies awarded to the winners.” “We spend our own money to take part in our own competitions,” Chen says. Clubs like Sunny Focus are thriving on the passion of their members. Apart from the national teams, the sport is still very much a self-funded amateur endeavor. According to Chen, compared with other countries, archery in China has yet to receive sufficient media exposure to entice sponsorship money that could help recruit and nurture talent at club level. Last summer in London, archer Dai Xiaoxiang became the first Chinese male to win a medal in the men’s individual event.īut for those smitten with the primitive weapon, widespread media coverage once every four years is nowhere near enough. The sport received a natural upsurge in popularity during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games when Shandong native Zhang Juanjuan became the first non-Korean since 1984 to win gold in the women’s individual event. In some ways, it is surprising that Chinese archery has not become a hit with the public. “It’s not exactly like football,” he notes glumly. He laments that archery still falls short of making broadcast schedules for terrestrial television. It’s one of the few places with comprehensive indoor archery facilities in the city center.Ĭhen says that despite the large number of archery lovers in China, the government is doing very little in terms of funding and promotion for the sport. Chen is one of roughly 1,000 fee-paying members at Beijing’s Sunny Focus Sports Club in Sanyuanqiao, Chaoyang district. It’s really quite pathetic,” Chen fumes between drags. “China is not taking care of archery at all. Chen, 33, revisits the cigarette once again, a look of satisfaction on his face. He takes another arrow from the miniature golf-bag sized fanny pack drooped around his waist and takes aim: Ping-whoosh-thud… bull’s eye. Ping goes the release followed by a whoosh and then a thud in quick succession. Chinese archers are targeting more publicity to help their sport grow.
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