¶¶Òõ¾«Æ·

Bangladesh archers will be looking to make their mark at the Teer 24th Asian Archery Championships 2025 as the six-day-long competition begins at the National Stadium, Dhaka, on Saturday.

A total of 209 archers from 30 countries across Asia will compete in the recurve and compound events, divided into men’s and women’s divisions, with the final two days held at the Bangladesh Army Stadium.

This year, 92 female archers - 54 in recurve and 38 in compound events - are participating, with Bangladesh hosting the event for the third time after 2017 and 2021.

In 2021, Bangladesh claimed one silver and two bronze medals – a silver in the recurve mixed doubles, and bronze medals in both the men’s and women’s team recurve events – but returned home empty-handed from the previous edition in Bangkok in 2023.

Bangladesh archery team’s German coach Martin Frederick, expects that his team is well prepared to replicate their success from 2021. 

‘I have faith in my archers. There’s some frustration among them because we couldn’t win a medal in Bangkok last time. This time, they are eager to make amends and perform well,’ said Martin ahead of the competition on Friday. 

Sagor Islam, who is currently ranked 75th and will compete in the recurve events, said,’ We’ve trained for almost a year for this event, and hopefully, our hard work will pay off. We want to bring smiles to our people’s faces.’ 

Another recurve archer Alif (ranked 71st) said, ’We are confident in our abilities to achieve something for Bangladesh. Archery is a sport of the moment – rankings don’t always determine the outcome. Whoever performs best on the day will be the winner.’ 

Compound events female archer Bonna (ranked 85th) said, ’This championship is our chance to turn all our efforts into results. We’ll give it everything we have.’ 

On the opening day of the competition, Bangladesh Archery Federation founding and executive member Kazi Rajib Uddin Ahmed Chapol will run for the president post of the Asian Archery during the congress and elections to be held at a city hotel, when 38 voters will cast their mandates. 

Bangladesh Squad 

Recurve Men: Abdur Rahman Alif, Sagor Islam, Rakib Mia, Ram Krishna Saha; Recurve Women: Arovi Akter, Ety Khatun, Sonali Roy, Sima Aktar Shimu; Compound Men: Mohammad Ashikuzzaman, Himu Bachhar, Asif Mahmud, Nawaz Ahmed Rakib; Compound Women: Mithila Akter, Bonna Akter, Kulsum Akther Mone, Puspita Zaman.