Shillong, Nov 10: Shillong will host the NTPC Senior National Archery Championship from November 12 to 17 at the Parade Ground in Umsawli, with around 1,000 athletes from 44 associations expected to compete over six days.
Meghalaya will field 23 archers.
Organised by the Archery Association of Meghalaya under the aegis of the Archery Association of India, with support from the Department of Sports and Youth Affairs, the championship will bring together the 46th Senior Recurve, 22nd Senior Compound and 33rd Senior Indian Round National Championships for men and women.
Organisers said the Parade Ground is to be developed into a centre of excellence.
Athletes will begin arriving on November 11. Men’s recurve qualification begins at 8 am on November 12, followed by the opening ceremony at 10.30 am. Women’s recurve qualification follows at noon. Compound events begin on November 13 and Indian Round events on November 14. The championship concludes on November 17 with 15 gold-medal matches across individual, team and mixed-team events.
The championship returns to a city with a long association with the sport. Shillong hosted the second Senior Recurve National Championship in October 1975, the 10th in May 1986, and the 20th Senior Recurve and sixth Senior Indian Round Nationals together in November 1999. The Junior National Championship was held here in December 2011.
Archery has long been part of traditional life in Meghalaya, where ‘Siat Khnam’, the traditional archery of the Khasi Hills, is still practised. The State also shaped the modern sport, with the late Woodward Sohliya among the pioneers of the Indian Round, created in 1989 and one of the three formats at the championship.
