This was unanimously approved by World Archery's Executive Board after a consultation process, meaning that no world or continental competitions will take place until the next outdoor season.

No decision has yet been made on the 2021 Indoor Archery World Series, which is due to run from October to February.

International archery has been on a hiatus since March due to the pandemic, leaving many postponements in the sport's calendar.

Other options were considered including holding a full season in the autumn, staging continental hub tournaments and a final, and a single location hosting multiple competitions back-to-back.

More than half of the National Federations who gave feedback on the proposals at the start of July preferred the season to be cancelled, while 30 per cent of teams said they thought they would be able to travel to other nations while taking into account current national restrictions.

The world rankings will still open from September 1 for a transition period expected to last until April 1, 2021, which will allow new points to be added.

However, no points will be deducted from former competitions.

World Archery President Uğur Erdener said: "Athletes have been at the centre of our work to return to international competition.

"Their well-being is our absolute priority and while we know that events can be held safely, ongoing restrictions mean that too many would be excluded from any single world-level tournament.

"We will now encourage the progressive hosting of smaller international events as part of a campaign to get archery competition up and running again so that by next season, the calendar can return to normal."