Preview: No Asian stars makes Santiago more open

Preview: No Asian stars makes Santiago more open

It is one of the last major competitions of the outdoor season in para archery but arguably one of the most open.

Santiago 2026 is the penultimate stage of the inaugural Hyundai World Para Series, following on from Bangkok, Nove Mesto and Ahmedabad, with the circuit closing in Dubai in December.

However, the action in Chile's capital city promises to be one of the most open fields of the year, as all of Asia's top archers will not travel to South America due to the first day of the Asian Para Games overlapping with the individual finals on Sunday 18 October.

This includes athletes such as India's Paralympic medallists Singh Harvinder and Sheetal Devi and Singapore's Ken Swagumilang, the runner up of the Beijing 2025 Asia Para Archery Championships.

They may be big hitters in their respective categories, but what their absence does do is pave the path for some of the best para archers from the Americas to win world ranking points - where the vast majority of entries for Santiago come from - and potentially create new stars.

That still may be a tall order in the W1 men and women categories, however, as world number ones Jason Tabansky and Sarka Pultar Musilova are shooting at the Peñalolen National Training Center, as is the second-ranked Samuel Molina in the para recurve men discipline, who won stage three in Ahmedabad earlier this year.

Host nation Chile has the largest squad, with 12 total competitors, whilst countries outside of the Americas have travelled as well, including three from Musilova's Czechia and four from Romania.

What’s happening? The fourth stage of the Hyundai World Archery Para Series from 14 to 18 October at the Peñalolen National Training Center in Santiago, Chile.

What’s at stake? World ranking points.

Who’s competing? 52 archers from 10 nations.

What’s the story? No Asian archers means Santiago is one of the smallest para competitions of the year but offers the chance for the best archers in the para compound, recurve, visually impaired and W1 categories from the Americas and Europe to win world ranking points, as well as birthing new stars from those regions.

Watch live footage of the finals on 17-18 October with a subscription to archery+.

Live scores will be available on the World Archery website, with coverage across World Archery’s digital platforms throughout the competition.

These are the top-ranked archers competing in Santiago:

Competition at the Santiago 2026 World Para Series begins with qualifying on Thursday.