A total of $150,000 (£121,000/€139,000) has been offered to archers who have lost income due to the crisis, with individual grants available up to $7,500 (£6,000/€6,900).

Any archer who is over the age of 18 and has competed at the World Archery Championships, the World Archery Para Championships or any stage of the Archery World Cup in 2018 or 2019 can apply.

Applicants must prove they will earn less than expected in 2020 from sources such as Government or institutional funding, competition winnings and sponsorship, and must also provide details on how the grant will be spent.

Those suffering from financial hardship will be prioritised, with the names of archers who receive grants due to be published on the World Archery website.

All applications must be submitted online before midnight, central European time, on May 31.

Steven Ungerleider, the chairman of the Foundation, said he hopes the grants can help archers in times of uncertainty. 

Ungerleider said: "Many athletes work extra jobs to support their archery dreams, and we hope this scholarship can offset any income loss and empower the archers to compete when the COVID-19 crisis ends."

World Archery Athletes' Commission chair Naomi Folkard added: "Our lives and plans as archers have been upturned by the pandemic.

"Hopefully, this fund will give some measure of comfort as we look forward to what comes afterwards, particularly for those who do not have other forms of financial support at this time."

International archery events will not be held before September due to the pandemic, with social restrictions still in place around the world.

World Archery has also placed all of its staff at its Lausanne-based headquarters on temporary partial unemployment.