This last year has been a productive one for the sport of archery and our Federation. World Archery continued to innovate across the sport to make it more engaging for athletes, fans and the media.

Nowhere was this clearer than during the Archery World Cup, known for being hosted in iconic locations, which culminated in the Olympic Capital of Lausanne in 2014.

Appropriately, the first ever Brazilian archer to make the Final posed for a photograph in front of the official clock counting down to his home Games - Rio 2016 - after collecting his silver medal.

Those who watched the live broadcast and the millions exposed to the highlights on Eurosport and other channels in territories around the globe saw new graphics made possible by Falco-Eye, a highly-accurate laser scoring mechanism that pinpoints the exact position of arrows in the target.

World Archery has supported Falco-Eye's development with the aim of introducing it as standard at future Olympic Games and high-level international archery and multisport events. In the Lausanne venue, spectators tested VoGo - one of the world's most advanced instant video replay systems - produced by Olympic TOP Partner, ATOS.

Images from multiple broadcast cameras were fed directly to the audience's smart devices in real time and at the same time.

Archery continued to play a key role in international multisport events and was included in both the Incheon 2014 Asian Games and the Nanjing 2014 Summer Youth Olympic Games.

Li Jiaman's thrilling women's gold, via a shootout, at the Summer Youth Olympic Games, was one highlight ©World Archery



World Archery constantly looks to engage the younger generation in the sport and Nanjing 2014 showed not just how appealing archery is to young people - but how impressive the sport's young athletes can be. International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Dr Thomas Bach commented on how exciting it was for a gold medal match at Nanjing to end in a tiebreaker decider.

In its second Games appearance, after debuting at Singapore 2010, the mixed team event made another strong case for its inclusion on the full Olympic programme. It is a proposal our Executive Board strongly supported at its meeting at the end of the year.

World Archery's commitment to being an accessible sport for all was strengthened when the
International Paralympic Committee announced that Para-archery would be included as a core sport on the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic programme in October.

The talk of Games will only increase as we transition from a successful 2014 into an exciting
2015. Our Road to Rio begins in Copenhagen at the World Archery Championships in July. The week long competition, which will draw over 600 of the world's best archers, includes the primary qualifier for the next Olympic Games and will draw considerable attention from the press.

Having already hosted a world-class Archery World Cup Final in 2009, I have no doubt that
Copenhagen will do the important event proud.

Teenager Marcus Dalmieda is poised to become an archery mega-star at Rio 2016 ©World Archery



After Brazilian archers had the opportunity to shoot their national championships in the
Sambodromo - the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Archery Venue - in November 2014, the rest of the world will have the same opportunity in the autumn of this year at the official test event.

World Archery will remain in frequent dialogue with the Rio 2016 Organising Committee to ensure the very best conditions for our athletes during the Games - which are now just over one year away.

This year's Archery World Cup season marks the 10th anniversary of an international circuit that has had such drastic impact on the development of our sport, dramatically increasing worldwide interest, exposure and participation over the past decade.

Shanghai, Antalya, Wroclaw and Medellin host the four stages for the third year in a row, with the Final set to take place in Mexico City in October.

Before we look towards the new season, we have an opportunity to recognise the outstanding contributions of our athletes, officials and volunteers in 2014. The first World Archery Gala and Award Ceremony will be held during the fourth stage of the 2014/15 Indoor Archery World Cup in Las Vegas.

Public voting for the Athlete of the Year awards has drawn over 25,000 ballots to date and
remains open until the end of January, and can be done via the World Archery website here. The gala will be broadcast on Archery TV and I hope you will join me in thanking everybody who has contributed to the growth and success of our sport during 2014.

World Archery will work closely with IOC President Thomas Bach as he implements the Agenda 2020 reform process ©World Archery



The New Year also brings an opportunity for World Archery to work in close collaboration with the IOC, led by President Thomas Bach, as it implements its visionary Olympic Agenda 2020.

At our Executive Board meeting in December, we embraced the unanimously approved Agenda 2020 by identifying a number of key recommendations that World Archery could act upon.

As an organisation, we will continue to work with the IOC throughout 2015 to help implement these changes to ensure a brighter future for archery and the entire Olympic Movement.

I look forward to seeing each and every one of you on the archery field in 2015. 

Prof Dr Uğur Erdener is the President of World Archery, as well as the President of the National Olympic Committee of Turkey and a member of the International Olympic Committee's Executive Board.