Teer 24th Asian Archery Championship will begin on Saturday (Nov 8) in the capital.
The week-long meet will be held at two separate venues – National Stadium and Bangladesh Army Stadium, from November 8-14.
A total of 209 archers – 119 men and 90 women – from 30 countries across Asia will compete in the championship, which will be held with the financial cooperation of the Ministry of Youth and Sports.
Bangladesh Archery Federation (BAF) is going to organise the Asian Archery Championship for the third time after 2017 and 2021.
The championship, sponsored by City Group, includes recurve men's team event, recurve men's singles, recurve women's team event, recurve women's singles and mixed team event, compound men's team event, compound men's singles, compound women's team event, compound women's singles and compound mixed team event.
Hotel Intercontinental is the hospitality partner of the championship.
Addressing a press conference held at the city's local hotel today (Tuesday), BAF general secretary Tanvir Ahmed said: "Though we are going to organise the championship, we have another part which is World Archery Asia Congress to be held on November 8 at Hotel Intercontinental."
The general secretary said Kazi Razib Uddin Ahmed Chapal is going to contest for the first time for the post of presidency in the congress and if he is elected, he would be appointed as the president of World Archery Asia for the next four years.
"The president, general secretary and executive members of World Archery Asia will be elected through this congress and it'll be a big event for us. We are proud that we're going to host this congress in Dhaka," he added.
The federation general secretary informed that the qualification and elimination rounds of the championship will be held at National Stadium from November 8-12 while the final round would be shifted to Bangladesh Army Stadium where the recurve and compound events will be held on November 13 and 14.
Local organising committee's chairman Kazi Razib Uddin Ahmed Chapal said: "Although the Archery Federation is new, its success rate is very high. We are hopeful that we can achieve great success in this championship. If we succeed, we can move one more step forward."
He said the participating teams would start to arrive at midnight today. Special arrangements have been made on behalf of the local organising committee for war-torn countries like Palestine, Syria, Yemen and Jordan, providing them with on-arrival visa facilities so that these countries can participate in the championship without any hindrance.
Chapal further said he is going to contest for the presidency post of World Archery Asia Congress and seeks everyone’s cooperation.
BAF president and senior secretary of the Ministry of Public Administration Dr Md Mokhles Ur Rahman said, "The Ministry of Youth and Sports has given us a handsome amount and sponsor City Group is also helping us to make the championship a success."
The president said Chapal is going to contest for the presidency post in the November 8 congress and his position is good at the moment. He is also expecting a positive result in this congress.
Jafar Uddin Siddique, executive director of City Group, and Md Mahbubr Rahman, managing director of Hotel InterContinental Dhaka, also spoke at the press conference.
Participating countries in the championship are Bhutan, Republic of China, Hong Kong China, Indonesia, India, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, South Korea, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Syria, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Timor-Leste, Chinese Taipei, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen, and host Bangladesh will take part in the mega championship.
–BSS
