Contestants compete in the 2021 Shanxi Archery Championships in Yangquan, on Dec 4. [Photo/Yangquan Evening News]

The 2021 Shanxi Archery Championships were staged in the city of Yangquan, located in North China's Shanxi province, on Dec 4-8.

The tournament, hosted by the Shanxi Sport Bureau, was held indoors – with an 18 meter-length range and 60 arrows-ranking challenges that were divided into the open and sports schools categories.

Referees confirm the scores of contestants in the championships on Dec 4. [Photo/Yangquan Evening News]

Contestants competed in events involving the compound bow, recurve bow and traditional bow in the open category and recurve bow events in the category for sports schools. 

About 240 athletes from 18 teams participated from across the province, including 21 from Yangquan's team.

A coach confers with his team during the archery championships. [Photo/Yangquan Evening News]

The archery sport has a good foundation in Yangquan, which achieved outstanding results in it in the 1990s, and the city has cultivated many national champions and one world champion, Yang Jianping. 

In recent years, Yangquan has continued to focus on the training of its archery reserve pool of talent. Through hard work, in the archery competition of the 2018 Games of Shanxi Province, the Yangquan team won all four individual gold medals in the Women's Group C. 

In 2019, the archery competition of the Second Youth Games of the People's Republic of China was held in Yangquan. 

"The game will promote the development of archery and lay down a good foundation for Yangquan's exploration of talent in archery," said Yangquan-born Huo Ruiping, chief referee of the 2021 Shanxi Archery Championships.