Archery or Tirandazi can truly be termed as Indigenous Game of India. As a sport, Archery is as old as our civilisation. It has also been a symbol of empowerment, strength, skill and concentration. The foundation of World Archery Federation (FITA) in 1931 can well be termed as the revival of Archery as a competitive sports at World Level. Archery was in the Ancient as well as in the Modern Olympic Games started in 1896 and continued upto 1920.
It was discontinued and again reintroduced into Olympics as a regular event in the 1972 Munich Olympic Games. However, only Recurve bow is recognised event of Olympics. It is based on individual scores. World Archery Championship and Archery World Cup are the important annual events of archery.
Archery Association of India
Established in 1973 is the representative Federation recognised by World Archery Federation. The role of Prof. V.K Malhotra in the promotion of this sport in India has been unparalleled. For the first time, Indian Archery Team participated in the world event at Seoul Olympics 1988 and was represented by Limba Ram, Shyamlal and Sanjeeva Singh.
Whereas the Indian Girls’ Team, for the first time, qualified for Athens Olympics 2004 and the teammates being DolaBannerjee, ReenaKumari and Sumangala. Dola Banerjee became the first woman to have qualified for Olympics.
Today, India has a large pool of Archers like Jayant Talukdar, Tarundeep Rai, Bombaila Devi, Atanu Das, Deepika Kumari, Abhishek Verma, Jyoti Surekha, Rajat Chauhan and so on. The renowned coaches include Ruma Roy, Smita Chattopadhaya, PoornimaMahato, Dharmendra Tewari, Late Somen Das, R. S.Sodhi, C.K Das, Shishir Das and others. Most of the Indian Star Archers have been the product of Sports Authority of India.
41st NTPC Junior National Championship
It is a big achievement for the State as well as for the Uttarakhand Archery Association to host the 41st NTPC Junior Championship in Dehradun, Uttrakhand. To organise a national level event requires tremendous efforts and resources for which the efforts of Sh. Rajendra Singh Tomar are praiseworthy. It could not have been possible without the special affection of Sh. Arjun Munda, Hon’ble Union Minister and President Archery Association of India, towards Uttrakhand.
I had the privilege to witness some of the important world level Archery events in India and abroad which includes 2015 Asian Archery Championship and Rio Olympics. While heading Operation Division of SAI, I was actively associated with the establishment of Archery grounds in Nehru Stadium, New Delhi and other places. With this experience, I can say that India has tremendous talent and as on date the facilities available are definitely world class. However, we need to strengthen in coaching, scientific support and also discipline to some extent.
Being a shooter sport require lot more care and discipline. While acting as inquiry officer of the Bolpur SAI Center where-an Archer was hit by an arrow, I found that discipline, location of target, ground position, sensitisation are crucial in this sport. There is Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for every sports activity but to follow them strictly is more important for target and schooting related games. Interestingly, Archery is one game where there is no upper age limit but fitness is the key.
The sport requires complete synchronising of mind and body which can come only with fitness. The players aspiring for greater role need to train themselves in Indoor, outdoor, airy, warm, all type of conditions. In Rio Olympics, some of the Indian Archers performed poorly because there was sudden change in wind conditions though that did not affect Koreans players. The young aspirants should also be good in their studies.
With thanks to all coaches, scientific staff, ground staff and others.
