FITA is entering an exciting era with new leadership, competitions and commercial exposure. President Dr. Ugur Erdener (TUR) opened his mandate with two major decisions : a new World Cup circuit for 2006 and a first sponsor !

Meteksan signs with FITA
The new sponsoring program of FITA starts with a major success and the signing of Meteksan Sistem Inc., the leading IT company of Turkey. Meteksan IT Group CEO Alper Köstem and FITA President Erdener signed a 4 year contract starting right away in October 2005.

Meteksan will play a major role in the FITA activities during the whole Olympic cycle. In 2006, Meteksan is an Official Sponsor for the new FITA Archery World Cup and for the World Championships.

Meteksan brings an extensive know-how of IT technologies, event management, graphic design and website development. For instance, these features will enhance the FITA TV production, the web coverage and the overall management of archery events with online accreditation systems. The development of these services is offered by Meteksan and starts right away.

FITA President Erdener said “I am delighted that a premier and a worldwide growing company such as Meteksan is a new FITA Official Sponsor. Meteksan will help funding our archery activities and will also bring its strong expertise to enhance FITA competitions. I am looking forward to a true partnership with Meteksan for the next 4 years and beyond. I am sure that other major brands will follow the path and take advantage of the exciting opportunities we offer with our new sponsoring program.”

Meteksan IT Group CEO Alper Köstem said “Within the scope of this partnership we will deliver IT infrastructure, TV graphics, intranet, web services, content management, broadband applications and more. We are so proud of naming the event as Meteksan Archery World Cup for the European events and to be the FITA Official Sponsor. As Meteksan IT Group, we have extensive know-how in sports events in terms of event management, IT systems and event information systems since a few months ago we successfully completed the “23rd Universiads Izmir” organization, the biggest sports event in the world after the Olympics. We believe that we and FITA will create a good synergy and enhance the archery competitions.”

FITA is proud to welcome Meteksan and is confident that it will play an instrumental role for the new World Cup.

Extraordinary location for the Final !

FITA opens a new World Cup in 2006 for Outdoor Target. Individual Men and Women will be competing in Compound or Recurve.

The World Cup consists of 4 selected events and a Grand Final in Merida (MEX). It will take place on October 22nd at a splendid location, the feet of the Maya pyramids Chichen-Itza. FITA will provide an attractive Prize Money for the Final with a total of USD 150’000.-.

The top 4 archers in each category will qualify for the Final based on their World Cup points earned during the 4 stages of the 2006 circuit only. These events are :
Porec, Croatia, May 10-13
Antalya, Turkey, June 7-10
San Salvador, El Salvador, June 21 -25
Asia, place to be confirmed, September 2006

A new commercial strategy is developed around this World Cup circuit with an attractive program for sponsors and a broad media exposure. All the qualifying events as well as the Final will be covered by the FITA TV production team and the FITA website. This will extend the planned TV distribution of the Field World Championships in Gothenburg.

A long-term plan
President Erdener also presented its long-term strategic plan during its first Council.The focus is on 5 pillars : Identity, Promotion, Competitions, Partners and Organisation. In other words, how can FITA create sustainable growth and become an even more successful Olympic sport. This new vision should put archery on target for successes until 2012 and beyond !

Tom Dielen
FITA Secretary General

For more information on FITA please contact :
FITA Marketing and Communication Director
Didier Miéville
Tel.: +41 21 614 3050
Email : dmieville@archery.org
Website : http://www.archery.org/

For more information on Meteksan please contact :
Meteksan Marketing Director
Murat Gün
Tel.: +90 312 297 90 85
Email : muratg@meteksan.com.tr
Website : http://www.meteksan.com.tr/