More than 100 archers from 13 countries, including Russia, Italy and Spain, have travelled to the International Antalya Challenge, which began yesterday with the qualifying round. 

It is the first international competition of 2020 for the majority of the athletes in attendance after all major archery events were put on hold due to the global health crisis. 

Among the top archers participating are Italian duo and reigning European Games champions Tatiana Andreoli and Mauro Nespoli, Russia's world champion Natalia Avdeeva and Turkish world number five Mete Gazoz.

A number of restrictions are in place during the event to combat COVID-19. 

Sanitisation stations have been placed around the venue and athletes are required to wear masks and practice social distancing when not competing.

Unusually, each archer had their own target during qualification - there are normally up to four archers sharing a single target in competition.

There are also regular health checks in place and procedures for transport, practice and meals at the single event hotel are expected to keep contact minimal.

"We have to respect the rules of masks and social distancing," said Slovenian recurve archer Ana Umer.

"And we shoot one archer to each target. 

"It is different, but we just need to accept it and go with it.

"We all miss the feeling of international competition and I’m really excited and happy to be here."

Competition continued today with the elimination round, with the finals taking place tomorrow.

Antalya is a longtime host of a stage of the Archery World Cup.

The venue was due to host the European Championships and Europe’s continental qualifier for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games earlier this summer, but these events have now been postponed until 2021.