The 20th Asian Archery Championship’2017, the heavyweight and most prestigious archery competition of the continent, was inaugurated at the Bangabandhu National Stadium here on Saturday for the first time in Bangladesh amid huge enthusiasm among the sports lovers.
Secretary General of Bangladesh Olympic Association Syed Shahed Reza inaugurated the six-day meet, also a continental qualification tournament for the 3rd Summer Youth Olympic 2018 scheduled for October next year in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
It is the fifth international tournament being organised by Bangladesh Archery Federation (BAF) after hosting one South Asian Archery Championship, two Asian Grand Prix events and one Islamic Solidarity Archery Championship since the federation started its journey in 2001.
Vice-president of World Archery Asia and Tournament Director Sanguan Kosavinta from Thailand, Secretary General of World Archery Asia Sung Ho-Um, BAF President and Chairman of the Organising Committee Lt Gen (retd) Mohammad Mainul Islam and BAF General Secretary Kazi Rajib Uddin Ahmed Chapal also spoke on the occasion.
Bangladesh Archery Federation is organising the Asian Archery meet under the auspices of World Archery and World Archery Asia (WAA).
The main competition will begin on Sunday morning from 8:30 am through ranking rounds all divisions.
After the opening ceremony, instrument inspection formalities, official practice session of the participating teams and managers’ meetings were held followed by icebreaking event at the Sheikh Russell Rollar Skating complex on the Bangabandhu Stadium premises.
Earlier on Thursday, Bangladesh Archery Federation announced the 25-member Bangladesh team for the meet, including 18 archers and seven officials, who are eying quarterfinal berth in team event.
A record of 161 men’s and 125 women’s archers from 35 Asian countries, including Bangladesh, are expected to compete in the six-day tournament, for 10 gold, 10 silver and 30 bronze medals of 10 events.
The events are: Recurve Men’s team, Recurve Women’s team, Recurve Men’s Individual, Recurve Women’s Individual, Compound Men’s team, Compound Women’s team, Compound Men’s Individual, Compound Women’s Individual, Recurve Mixed team and Compound Mixed team.
