FITA ROUND

in the sport of archery, a form of target shooting competition used in international and world championship events, authorized by the Fdration Internationale de Tir l'Arc (FITA), the world governing body of the sport. The round consists of 144 arrows, 36 at each of 4 distances. For men the distances are 90, 70, 50, and 30 metres (295, 230, 164, and 98 feet); for women they are 70, 60, 50, and 30 metres. At world championships a single FITA round is shot as a qualifier, followed by a grand FITA round (introduced in 1985), in which the top 24 archers shoot four elimination rounds of nine arrows at each distance, with scores starting at zero to begin each new round. The fourth and final round, in which the top eight archers participate, determines the winners. In the Olympic Games, from 1992, the qualifying rounds are followed by the FITA Olympic round, which comprises head-to-head, single-elimination matches. Team events have been part of Olympic competition since 1988.