How an archery match works

Shown with recurve archery, the Olympic bow.

1. The target has ten rings, scoring 10 at the centre down to 1 at the edge.
2. First, every archer shoots a qualification round of 72 arrows at 70 metres. The totals rank the field and seed a knockout bracket.
3. Then come one-against-one matches in sets of three arrows. The higher total wins the set and 2 set points; a tied set gives 1 each.
4. The first to 6 set points wins the match. At 5-5, one arrow each decides it: the shoot-off, where the arrow closer to the centre wins if the scores are level.

How long

In matches an archer has 20 seconds for each arrow.

Compound

Compound archers shoot at 50 metres and their matches add up all 15 arrows: no set points, so every point counts.