The Uttara Bank 4th National Archery Championship will get underway today at the Army Stadium with 150 archers including 40 women participating in the three-day meet.
Archers from 53 teams — 13 district sports associations, three services teams, one institution and 36 clubs — will fight for 12 gold medals in three events of recurve bow, compound and bamboo bow.
Bangladesh Ansar, comprised mostly of national team players, are tipped as the favourites.
“Archery has been flourishing mostly through individual efforts so far, hence we have brought in clubs in the national championship. We hope to hold a club championship in a couple of years since the number of DSAs have been gradually increased,” said Bangladesh Archery Federation general secretary Razib Uddin Ahmed Chapal at a press conference at the Bangladesh Olympic Association yesterday.
Recurve and compound are international events but bamboo bow is a local invention and it has been kept in the championship as the bamboo bow is usually used during the talent hunt programme, informed Chapal.
Of an estimated yearly budget of Tk 52 lakh provided by Uttara Bank, over Tk 3 lakh will be used for the championship, said Uttara Bank executive general manager Selim Nazrul Haq.
“Archery in Bangladesh had started its international journey since 2005 and considering this, it is still a baby though we have already got some international success,” said federation president Lieutenant General Moinul Islam.
He hoped that archery would go further if they could ensure proper training for the archers. In this regard they had placed a five-year plan to the authority concerned in response to the Prime Minister and were searching for a place to establish a training academy,” said the former BDR DG.
Chapal informed that Abul Kashem Mamum, an archer of the compound event, has been named for FITA gold award for his performance in the Delhi Commonwealth Games where he scored 681 out of 720.
