UKRAINE TEAM: “WE NEED TO SHOW THE WORLD THAT UKRAINE IS STILL STRONG”

Ukraine managed to send two full recurve teams to Antalya. A handful of elite athletes have been allowed to evacuate the wartorn country; 10 of the country’s top senior archers plus three coaches are temporarily living and training in Germany, where they have managed to obtain both public and private support to continue taking part in international sport.

“Olympic sport was against war throughout history,” said Oleksii Hunbin, who competed for Ukraine in men's recurve at Tokyo 2020. “Men and women must be in competition on the field of play, not on the field of war.”

For the Antalya competition, the Turkish Olympic Committee and national archery federation organised accommodation, while World Archery donated flights. The squad have also received donations of clothing and equipment.

“We were a really lucky group,” said Polina Rodionova. “The best what we can do is compete in international competitions and tell the world what is Ukraine.”

Veronika Marchenko added: “We can’t forget what’s going on in Ukraine. We’ve also thought about this. We need to show the world that Ukraine is still strong. It’s a normal country. It’s a humanity [sic] country. We will do… all that we can.”