No place for compound archery while boxing is put on hold for LA 2028 Games

The omission of compound archery comes as a major blow for India who had become a dominant nation in the sport.

Cricket’s return to the Olympics fold may have stolen all the headlines after the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) executive board meeting in Mumbai on Monday, but fans of Indian archery were left extremely disappointed and sour. It was announced on the same day that compound archery will not be finding a place on a roster of sports for the Los Angeles 2028 Games.

Despite the suggestion from the apex governing body of archery, World Archery, to include compound archery, the Olympics organisers decided against it. The IOC Executive Board rejected the World Archery’s proposal saying it would impact the overall budget of the Games since the number of archers qualifying for the event would increase.

IOC’s sports director, Kit McConnell said it was “really about the costing complexity.”

This omission comes as a massive blow for Indian athletes and fans as the country had started to become a dominant force in the sport.

Indian archers also did extremely well at the recent Asian Games and there’s already speculation about some of them being medal hopefuls at the upcoming Paris Olympics next year. At the 19th edition of the Asiad, Ojas Deotale and Jyothi Surekha Vennam dazzled brightly for India as they won gold in the men's and women's individual categories. 

Clarifying the decision of the organising committee, McConnell mentioned that following the addition of the new sports into the programme, they had to find a way to strike balance. Even though the decision was harsh, they had to do it for the sake of not overcrowding the Olympics programme.

"The increase would obviously, equally, be looking to limit the impact on the existing sports — that is the balance we will have to find," McConnell was quoted as saying by PTI.

"Moving forward also, respecting the universality within those existing sports and any changes that we make," he mentioned.

"Regarding the disciplines, the programme commission set that very framework.”

Despite this exclusion, recurve archery will continue to be included in the Olympics framework as usual. The difference between recurve and compound archery lies in the equipment.

While recurve uses the basic bow and arrow and relies more on human precision, the compound is more mechanical and combines cams and wheels instead of the human finger as the trigger.

Recurve bows are shot 70 metres from the target, while compound bows are shot from 50 metres.

On the other hand, boxing continues to be in a state of limbo ahead of the LA28 Games. The IOC mentioned that the sport has been “put on hold” on Monday as it had not yet recognised another world governing body for the sport.

In June, the existing apex body of world boxing, the International Boxing Association (IBA), was effectively expelled from the Olympic movement following a bitter dispute between Games chiefs and its Russian president, Umar Kremlev.

Concerns over the credibility of tournaments organised by the IBA as well as disputes over the boxing body’s finances, governance, and constitution resulted in the withdrawal of recognition from the IOC’s executive committee.

Boxing has been part of every Olympics since 1920 and will feature at next year’s Paris Games.

LA 2028 chairman Casey Wasserman, speaking to reporters in Mumbai, said: “Boxing has a great history in the Olympics, has a great history in America as a lineage of boxing champions. So we’d love to see boxing on the programme.

“But obviously it’s a decision that’s going to be taken by the IOC’s membership, given the complexities that exist with the federation. We’re hopeful, but all we can do is wait for the answer.”