A deejay playing pop music and a large video screen were just part of the entertainment on offer at the pre-Olympic archery test event in Beijing last summer.

 

"In the last two years, we have done a lot to make the competition more modern and more enjoyable," Didier Mieville, marketing and communication director of the International Archery Federation (FITA), told China Daily.

"Sports presentation and innovation are very important to this ancient sport," he said.

As such, the V-shaped archery field that will be used during the Beijing Games is smaller than usual, with raised 14-meter viewing stands giving spectators a better view of the action.

Archery featured at the early Olympics then disappeared after the 1920 Antwerp Games. It was re-introduced at Munich 1972, with Americans John Williams and Doreen Wilber winning the individual events, and a team competition was added for Seoul 1988.

However the Olympic sport has suffered from dwindling popularity in recent years-a trend FITA aims to reverse.

Since he was elected president of the sport's governing body in 2005, Turkey's Ugur Ernener has been instrumental in launching several initiatives to this end.

The Archery World Plan (2007-2011), dubbed 'The Connection', is geared toward getting archery internationally recognized as one of the most important Olympic sports by 2012, and making sure it does not lose its place on the Olympic Program.

Measures include involving the world's top archers in a raft of events, using spectacular locations, attracting lucrative sponsorship and fostering greater media exposure for the sport.

The 2006 World Cup Final was even staged at the Mayapan pyramids in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula in a bid to add a greater sense of beauty and history to the sport.

"We are looking for extraordinary spots to put on our events-the Great Wall is an ideal place for that," said Mieville.

FITA experimented in the fourth stage of the 2006 World Cup in Dover, England, by adding a team event and a hit-and-miss target system.

Like mixed doubles in tennis, team members do not have to share the same nationality, which gives smaller nations a greater chance of glory. "It may be the future of the event and we're trying to propose it to the IOC," said Mieville.

The faster-paced hit-and-miss target system uses a smaller target face. One point is awarded for each bull's eye and the first to reach 10 points wins.

"In Dover, we gave a lot of novelty to the event, such as playing modern music from the archers' countries. Fans and archers all loved it," Mieville said.

The Olympic competition should be even better.

"We will create more beautiful settings and more interaction with spectators in Beijing, for example, by inviting people to try archery themselves during the breaks," said FITA Secretary-General Tom Dielen.