Great Britain's Steve Prowse will be contesting the VI1 and VI2/3 classes at the World Archery Para Championships ©World Archery

Former world champion Steve Prowse will be among the athletes competing over two visually impaired categories as the discipline returns to the World Archery Para Championships at the upcoming edition in Donaueschingen, Germany. 

The Briton will contest the VI1 and VI2/3 classes at the Championships  due to begin today with an Opening Ceremony and conclude on August 30.

Visually impaired competition was dropped from the World Championships in 2009, two years after Prowse was crowned world champion, due to constrictions in classification and widespread demand.

In May of this year, however, World Archery announced that it will feature in Donaueschingen marking another historic step for the sport.

"I’m just really looking forward to the whole event," said Prowse, during an unofficial practice day.

"It’s going to be good."

Athletes competing in VI1 must wear blindfolds or black-out glasses while competing.

Both VI1 and VI2/3 athletes use tactile sights and are permitted an assistant sitting or standing one metre behind the shooting line.

Visually impaired archery features on the World Archery Para Championships programme for the first time since 2009
Visually impaired archery features on the World Para Championships programme for the first time since 2009 ©World Archery

Meanwhile in the women’s recurve open, United States’ Kinga Kiss-Johnson will be bidding for success on the world stage, fresh from winning a bronze medal at the Toronto 2015 Parapan American Games earlier this month.

"My coaches [have] prepared me and brought me to this level and now it is my turn to execute what they have taught me," she said.

Kiss-Johnson, a US Army veteran who suffered devastating neck, back and brain injuries while serving in Afghanistan, failed to come away with a medal from the 2013 World Championships but has big ambitions ahead of next year’s Paralympic Games in Rio.

"I love this sport and I am hoping to take it as far as I can," she said.

"I am really looking forward to competing with some of the best archers out there in the next few months with my ultimate goal being to podium in Rio 2016."

Archery has been held at every Paralympic Games since Rome 1960.


Related stories
May 2015: Visually impaired competitions to return to World Archery Para Championships after six-year hiatus
November 2013: World Archery launch appeals process after competitors ruled out of Paralympics by classification changes
November 2013: British archer unable to defend Paralympic title at Rio 2016 after classification change