Archers from Bhutan practise at JRD Tata Sports Complex. Picture by Srinivas

Jamshedpur, March 5: Top archers would aim bullseye during the 2nd South Asian Archery Championship to be held at JRD Tata Sports Complex from March 7-9.

Archers from Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and India would be seen in action during the championship. The meet is being held under three divisions — Indian, recurve and compound. The Indian round and the compound division have been introduced in the meet for the first time.

The Indian round is the cheapest way to start archery. Archery Association of India is trying to ensure that more and more countries adopt this sport. Talented archers can always move on to recurve and compound divisions, said Sanjeeva Singh, the secretary of the Jharkhand Archery Association while addressing a press meet today.

“Compound division has been in world championships since the last 20 years. It has grown in popularity and Asian Archery Federation is trying to introduce the same in the Asian Games,” added Singh.

According to him, India is fielding a junior outfit, which is equally strong, compared to the other participating teams that are competing with their senior outfits.

Singh added that they were fielding a junior team for preparing the outfit for the forthcoming Junior World Archery Meet (in October this year), Junior Asian Championship (2009) and 2010 Commonwealth Games.

On the other hand, archers from the state proved their mettle in the recently concluded 1st Asian Grand Prix Archery Championship in Bangkok.

The junior national girls’ outfit comprising Nisha Dutta, V. Pranitha and Pratima Boro — all from Tata Archery Academy — claimed the bronze by defeating Kazakhstan with a score of 203-195 points.

Renso Purty, Deepak Karmakar and Sanjay Swansi — from Jharkhand — put up a good fight against Asian medallists Philippines to clinch the third slot in a tie-breaker in the junior boys’ section.

The national girls’ team in the compound division, comprising Jharkhand archers Namita Yadav, Babita Bisoi and Asrita Kerketta, lost to Hong Kong in the semi-final but won against Indonesia by scoring 218 points. The junior boys’ team lost in the quarter-final to Malaysia, which went on to win the gold.