So, the World Cup stage 3 starts this weekend in the familiar venue of Antalya. It’s always the most popular stage on the tour, being on an upmarket stretch of a Turkish beach resort and with most of the archers in a very nice hotel indeed. Some teams, e.g. India, have been there for a while already. WA preview is here.

This edition apparently now the largest turnout (300+) of recurve archers at a World Cup stage ever, many of them there for the last chance tournament for Rio places on Thursday evening (teams) and Friday morning (individuals). Three team places per gender and at least three individual places per gender are on offer – there may be more depending on what happens in the team rounds.  A staggering 48 men’s teams and 27 women’s teams are going for those spots. (It’s also the final Paralympic qualifier over in the Czech Republic).

Antalya is so busy there are two separate days of qualification, and pretty much every team is out there at full strength in the last major international before the big dance. You can follow along at worldarchery.org from next week, with the usual finals next weekend.

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The FISU World University Archery championships wrapped up in Mongolia this weekend, with a strong Korean team taking a lot of what was on offer, and Rio alternate Kang “The Destroyer” Chae Young sweeping three medals including individual gold. I’m sure she’d happily swap the lot for a trip to Brazil, but hey.

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Speaking of Rio, I was nosing around the Sambadrome venue in Rio on Google Earth, and found something amazing. As you virtually ‘drive’ into the Sambadrome in sunlight, it changes to nighttime at Carnival. If the archery looks anything like this… well bowled. Look for yourself and start exploring here.
Also, World Archery just shared this pic of the Sambadrome – our Sambadrome – under Olympic construction:

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17 year olds Mete Gazoz and Yasemin Ecem Anagoz seem to have been confirmed for Rio after winning their places at the European Championships last month, according to this. They will be the youngest athletes in the Turkish delegation.

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Wider Rio news: Thomas Bach faces a parade of difficult decisions about doping as a Refugees Team is confirmed for the Games, with six track athletes , two swimmers, and two judokas. As for Zika, there’s been a few casualties already.  “Zika cases at Olympics will be ‘close to zero“, says the Brazilian sports minister – but then he would, wouldn’t he? Some other high-profile athletes are taking slightly more dramatic measures including freezing their own sperm.  Also, Team Nigeria aren’t helping their athletes with the sexy times.

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Choi Misun won a MVP award from a Korean women’s sport organisation. Considering she’s the world number one, and one of Korea’s best chances for individual gold in Rio, that’s kind of an understatement. 🙂

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At WA, there’s news of an interesting new app. This week’s best Olympian: and we’ve hit the top five with Yun Mi Jin, who took individual and team gold at Sydney 2000. She hasn’t actually retired yet, either (whoops…:) ) 

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From Forces TV, there’s a nugget about treating PTSD with archery.  From the Archery Blogger, there’s an interview with Jesse Broadwater.  And finally, an interesting piece about kyudo in California. All archery requires dedication, but the traditional martial art of Japan, even as taught in the West, requires even more:

“This isn’t about archery,” DeProspero says. “It’s about learning Japanese culture. It’s a tea ceremony with a bow and arrow.”…. A lot of people don’t return; the practice takes a long time. I’m not interested in tourists. You have to have a genuine interest.”

Bye!