State Minister for Youth and Sports M Zahid Ahsan Russell inaugurated the four-day competition in the morning. ISSF Secretary General Mohammed SM Algarnas, Treasurer Bindallak Abdullaziz Saad, Secretary General of World Archery Tom Dielen were present as special guests.
Bangladesh Olympic Association’s Director General Brig Gen (Retd) Fakruddin Haider, BAF General Secretary Kazi Razibuddin Ahmed Chapal and Tournament Secretary Rashiduzzaman Serniabat, among others, attended the opening ceremony.
The tournament has been organised by Bangladesh Archery Federation (BAF) under the auspices of ISSF.
Qualification rounds of the Compound Men’s and Recurve Women’s were held on the first day. Qualification Rounds of the Recurve Men’s and Compound Women’s will be held on Sunday.
Some 148 archers from 25 countries are taking part in the four-day tournament for 10 gold medals – five each for men’s and women’s – through ranking and elimination rounds.
The participating countries are – Albania, Azerbaijan, Chand, Cameroon, Germany, India, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Saudi Arabia, Malay, Morocco, Nepal, Pakistan, Sudan, Syria, Thailand, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Chinese Taipei, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Uganda, Algeria and hosts Bangladesh.
The events are men’s team, women’s team, men’s singles, women’s singles and mixed doubles of the Recurve and Compound divisions.
A 16-member archer team is representing hosts Bangladesh.
Members of Bangladesh Archer team are: Roman Shana, Imdadul Haque Milon, Hakim Ahmed Rubel, Tamimul Islam, Beauty Roy, Nasrin Akhter, Dia Siddiqui, Eti Khatun,
Sheikh Sajib, Ashim Kumar Das, Abul Kashem Mamun, Milan Mollah, Susmita Bonik, Bonnya Akhter, Shymoly Rai and Tamanna Parvin.