Archery and Indian Archers: Rules, Events and Records

The correct answer is A, World Archery Federation. It was founded in 1931 as the Federation Internationale de Tir a l'Arc, known by the short form FITA, and adopted the name World Archery in 2011. Its headquarters are at Lausanne in Switzerland, and it frames the rulebook that fixes distances, target sizes and match formats for target archery.

Option B is wrong because the International Shooting Sport Federation governs rifle, pistol and shotgun shooting, a different sport with its own ranges and targets. Option C is wrong because United World Wrestling is the world body for freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling. Option D is wrong because the International Weightlifting Federation runs the snatch and the clean and jerk. Candidates lose this mark by pairing archery with the shooting federation, since both sports aim at a target; the two are separate bodies and archery answers only to World Archery.

The correct answer is C, 1972. Archery was part of the 1900 Paris Olympics and a few Games after it, but disappeared from the programme after 1920 because the rules varied from country to country. Once FITA standardised the rounds, the sport returned at the Munich Games of 1972, and it has been shot at every Summer Olympics since, with the recurve bow alone.

Option A is wrong because the 1964 Tokyo Games had no archery event. Option B is wrong because the 1968 Mexico City Games also had none, though archery was demonstrated in earlier years. Option D is wrong because 1976 Montreal was the second Games after the sport returned, not the first. The three dates worth memorising in order are 1900 for the debut, 1920 for the last Games before the break and 1972 for the reinstatement.

The correct answer is C, 70 metres. All Olympic recurve events, individual, team and mixed team, are shot at 70 metres at a target face of 122 centimetres. The ranking round of 72 arrows is also shot from this distance, so the whole competition uses one distance and one face, which is what makes the television picture uniform.

Option A is wrong because 50 metres is the compound distance, shot at a smaller 80 centimetre face. Option B is wrong because 60 metres belongs to certain cadet and para categories, not the Olympic recurve event. Option D is wrong because 90 metres was part of the old FITA round shot by men before the single distance format was adopted, which is why it still appears as a distractor. Remember the pair 70 and 122 for recurve and 50 and 80 for compound.

The correct answer is C, 122 cm. The full target face used at 70 metres measures 122 centimetres across and carries ten concentric scoring rings, the innermost worth 10 points and the outermost worth 1. The two innermost gold rings together are called the gold, and the small circle at the centre is the X ring, used to separate archers on equal scores.

Option A is wrong because the 80 centimetre face is the compound face used at 50 metres. Option B is wrong because 100 centimetres is not a standard target size in target archery at all. Option D is wrong because no World Archery round uses a 140 centimetre face; the largest standard face is the 122 centimetre one. An easy way to hold this is that the bigger face goes with the longer distance, so 122 centimetres pairs with 70 metres.

The correct answer is B, 50 metres. The compound bow uses cams and cables that hold most of the draw weight for the archer, a magnifying scope and a mechanical release aid, so scores are far higher than with a recurve. To keep the sport testing, the compound round is shot at 50 metres at the smaller 80 centimetre face, and only the inner rings are used for scoring in some formats.

Option A is wrong because 30 metres belongs to indoor and youth rounds. Option C is wrong because 70 metres is the recurve Olympic distance, the pairing candidates most often confuse. Option D is wrong because 90 metres was part of the discontinued long FITA round for recurve men. Since Indian archers win most of their continental gold in compound events, examiners like asking this distance in current affairs based questions about Asian Games medals.

The correct answer is B, Bhutan. Archery is Bhutan's national sport and its village and festival contests, shot at long distances with small wooden targets and their own customs, are a part of national life. Bhutan also sends archers to the Olympic Games, where its participation in the recurve event is a familiar note in general knowledge papers.

Option A is wrong because Nepal has volleyball as its declared national sport. Option C is wrong because Mongolia's national festival Naadam includes archery along with wrestling and horse racing, but wrestling is its best known national sport, and the question asks for the country whose national sport is archery itself. Option D is wrong because Sri Lanka's national sport is volleyball. Pair this fact with the others of its kind: hockey with Pakistan and sumo wrestling with Japan as a traditional sport.

The correct answer is B, 6. Recurve individual matches are shot in sets of three arrows. The archer with the higher total in a set takes 2 set points, a tied set gives 1 set point to each, and the first archer to reach 6 set points wins the match. Scores therefore read 6-0, 6-2 or 6-4, and a 5-5 tie is broken by a single shoot-off arrow, the arrow nearer the centre taking the match.

Option A is wrong because 5 set points is the target in recurve team and mixed team matches, which are shot in sets of six and four arrows respectively. Option C and Option D are wrong because no archery format ends at 7 or 8 set points; they are only plausible sounding numbers. The trap in this question is the 5 in Option A, so link 6 with the individual event and 5 with the team events.

The correct answer is B, Dola Banerjee. The archer from West Bengal won the women's recurve gold at the 2007 Archery World Cup Final in Dubai, the first World Cup Final title won by an Indian archer, and she was honoured with the Arjuna Award.

Option A is wrong, and is the favourite distractor, because Deepika Kumari came later; she reached the world number one ranking, won two gold medals at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi and has many World Cup stage medals, but she was not the first at the World Cup Final. Option C is wrong because Bombayla Devi of Manipur is remembered as a steady Olympic team member rather than for a World Cup Final title. Option D is wrong because Jyothi Surekha Vennam shoots the compound bow and is known for Asian Games and World Championship team medals. Read such questions carefully: they ask who was first, not who is best known.

The correct answer is A, Rajasthan. Limba Ram comes from a tribal family of the Udaipur region of southern Rajasthan and was India's best known archer of the early 1990s, shooting at three Olympic Games and equalling a world record at a continental event. He received the Arjuna Award and later the Padma Shri, and his rise from a village contest to the national camp is a stock example in sports general knowledge.

Option B is wrong because Jharkhand is the state of Deepika Kumari and the home of the Tata Archery Academy at Jamshedpur, which makes it the most tempting wrong answer. Option C is wrong because Manipur is associated with Bombayla Devi and with boxing and weightlifting. Option D is wrong because Odisha is known for hosting hockey rather than for producing this archer. Fix the pairs in mind: Limba Ram with Rajasthan, Deepika Kumari with Jharkhand, Tarundeep Rai with Sikkim.

The correct answer is B, Abhishek Verma. He won the compound individual gold at the 2014 Asian Games held at Incheon in South Korea, one of India's landmark results in the compound bow, and has since been a fixture of the compound team that wins Asian Games and World Cup team medals.

Option A is wrong because Rajat Chauhan is a compound archer with team and individual medals of his own but not this individual title. Option C is wrong because Atanu Das shoots the recurve bow and is known as an Olympic team member. Option D is wrong because Tarundeep Rai, also a recurve archer, is remembered for the individual silver at the 2005 World Championship and for Asian Games team medals. The dividing line to remember is that Abhishek Verma, Rajat Chauhan and Jyothi Surekha Vennam are compound names, while Atanu Das, Tarundeep Rai and Deepika Kumari are recurve names.

The correct answer is B, mechanical release aid. A compound archer draws and looses the string with a hand held mechanical release, and may also use a magnifying scope and a peep sight set in the string. A recurve archer must draw with the fingers and may use only a plain sight without magnification, which is why recurve scores are lower at the same distance.

Option A is wrong because stabilisers, the long rods that steady the bow, are used with both bows. Option C is wrong because an arrow rest is a basic fitting on the riser of every target bow. Option D is wrong because the finger tab is the leather pad that protects a recurve archer's fingers, so it belongs to the recurve side and cannot be the answer. Questions of this type usually hinge on three compound only items: the release aid, the peep sight and the magnifying scope.

The correct answer is D, 720. Each target face has ten rings and the innermost ring scores 10 points, so 72 arrows all in the 10 ring give 72 multiplied by 10, that is 720 points. The ranking round is shot before the knockouts and its total fixes the seedings in the bracket, which is why a high ranking round score matters even though no medal is awarded for it.

Option A is wrong because 600 is the maximum of a 60 arrow round, not a 72 arrow one. Option B is wrong because 660 would need 66 arrows. Option C is wrong because 700 is simply a round number and matches no archery round. The arithmetic to carry into the exam hall is the number of arrows multiplied by ten: 360 for 36 arrows, 720 for 72 arrows and 150 for the 15 arrow compound match.