TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwanese archers arrived in the Colombian city of Medellin for next week’s Archery World Cup finding that their bows had gone missing, initially leaving them unable to train, reports said Saturday (July 16).

The group had taken part in the third stage of the cup in Paris, where the women's recurve team won gold. However, somewhere on the long journey from the French capital to the Latin American host of the July 18-24 Archery World Cup fourth and final stage, their equipment vanished, CNA reported, before eventually turning up at the 11th hour.

The athletes spoke of an arduous journey, having only one hour to transfer and go through customs in Frankfurt for a flight to the Colombian capital of Bogota, which departed 20 minutes late. Once they arrived in Bogota, the team transferred to a domestic flight for Medellin.

At the end of their travels, they found out that all of their luggage, including the sporting equipment, had not been on the same flight, with airline staff unable to tell them where it had gone. The total value of the missing luggage was estimated at NT$2 million (US$66,800), with each bow costing at least NT$100,000.

However, Saturday morning, the luggage of all but one of the athletes arrived at its destination, the Liberty Times reported. Seven boxes containing the bows had reportedly been placed on a flight from Frankfurt to Miami before reaching Medellin.

If the equipment had not arrived by next Wednesday (July 20), the Taiwan team would not even be able to take part in the World Cup, let alone train for the event, their coach said.