Revision as of 00:55, 10 March 2018

History

Three arrows shooting

Hero stones prove Baahubali-style three arrows shooting prevailed in south India centuries ago|Senthil Kumaran|Jul 27, 2017, Times of India

KRISHNAGIRI: Baahubali in the epic movie stunned heroine Devasena and moviegoers alike by shooting three arrows at once. Is it possible to shoot three arrows at once? Is it something which film director SS Rajamouli invented for the film?

Shooting three arrows together seems to be a centuries old technique of war and a sign of bravery, as suggested by a few hero stones that archeologists have discovered near Thally in Krishnagiri district of Tamil Nadu.

The Krishnagiri District History Search Organization (KDHSO) discovered three hero stones at Jihoor, a village near Thally close to Karnataka border in Krishnagiri district.

KDHSO president Aram A Krishnan told TOI that two hero stones depicted fighters holding three arrows each in their right hands and a bow each in their left hands.

One hero stone depicted a fighter holding three arrows and a bow while the other has two fighters fighting with each other. One of the fighters engraved on the second stone is holding three arrows and a bow while the other fighter is holding a sword in his right hand and a shield in the left hand.

The third hero stone depicts a sword-wielding fighter.

"The fighter who holds the sword might have belonged to Kangars who were very well-known for bravery," Krishnan said.

The village is situated close to Karnataka border and the kings who ruled these regions deployed thousands of fighters to protect their area from enemies. "Similarly, these two fighters might have been killed in a fight," Krishnan said.

The hero stones belonged to 13th or 14th centuries, according to archeologists. "We were astonished when Baahubali in the movie used three arrows together. But these kinds of technique were in use in 13th or 14th centuries," Krishnan added.

Asia Cup

2017: Gold and Silver in Stage I

Archiman Bhaduri, Archers bag two medals in Bangkok, March 27, 2017: The Times of India

India claimed a gold and a silver in the Asia Cup archery Stage I meet that concluded in Bangkok. It was a creditable show as the Archery Association of India (AAI) fielded a young, second-string team.

The men's compound team of Aman Saini, Shivansh Awasthi and Robert Singh Keithellakpam, who qualified third with a score of 2068, scraped past Iran 231-230 in the final to claim gold.

The women's recurve trio of Sakshi Rajendra Shitole, Promila Daimary and Ankita Bhakat had to be satisfied with silver after going down 0-6 to Chinese Taipei in the final. Earlier, they beat Iran 6-2 in the quarterfinal after get ting a bye in the first round by virtue of qualifying second in the 12-team competition.They then thrashed Malaysia 6-0 to make the final.

The Indian men's compound team had a smooth passage, brushing aside the challenge of United Arab Emirates 232-202 in the first round and Thailand 233-221 in the quarterfinal. The trio then saw off a tough challenge from Malaysia to squeeze out a 232-230 win in the last-four clash.

In the individual event, 19year-old Saini made the quarters before losing to Iran's 143145 to Ebadi Esmaeil. The Iranian archer went on to win gold.

India went out in quarterfinal in both recurve and compound mixed team events.

2018, Muskan Kirar wins Asia Cup gold

Biswajyoti Brahma, Jabalpur teenager wins gold in Archery Asia Cup, March 8, 2018: The Times of India

Muskan Kirar
From: Biswajyoti Brahma, Jabalpur teenager wins gold in Archery Asia Cup, March 8, 2018: The Times of India

Two years back, while scouting for potential archers, coach Richpal Singh Salaria had picked a bunch of youngsters for training. The bunch included a 15-year-old 10th-grade-student from Kendriya Vidyalaya in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh — Muskan Kirar.

Making rapid strides under coach Salaria, Muskan broke into the senior side within just one year and reached the top of the podium in a major international event on Wednesday when she clinched the women’s compound gold in Archery Asia Cup in Bangkok.

Among other Indians, Promila Daimary also secured a gold medal winning the women's recurve title.

“Her family wants her to be a doctor, so they were taken aback when I selected Muskan for archery training in April 2016,” an overjoyed Salaria told TOI from Bangkok. “It’s a moment of great pride for me that she proved me right by winning the gold with less than two years of training."

The coach said that Muskan, who just turned17, picked up the game so fast that even the authorities at her school thought she had been practicing archery secretly for years before being selected by Salaria. “Within few months of training, she played in the age categories and even won a gold in u-17 event in Bhubaneswar last year. She subsequently made it to the senior team and took part in the Asia Cup in 2017. She has a technically sound game and a very good attitude, which is helping her do well.”

The coach said that Muskan, daughter of a shopkeeper, had some “unbelievable” scores while winning the gold in Bangkok. Next goal? “Now the focus is on the Asian Games. I am sure she has the game and the ability to bring laurels for the country,” the coach said.

Congratulating Muskan Madhya Pradesh sports minister Yashodhara Raje Scindia said, “Muskan has given the best gift to the state on the eve of Women’s Day.”

World Archery Championships

2005. Madrid

Men’s recurve team: silver

(Tarundeep Rai, Gautam Singh, Jayanta Talukdar)

India’s first World Championships medal.

2011

Women’s recurve team: silver

(Deepika Kumari , Laishram Bombayla Devi, Chekrovolu Swuro)

The Times of India, Aug 02 2015

The women's recurve team of Deepika Kumari, Chekrovolu Swuro and Laishram Bombayla Devi had won India a silver medal in the World Championship in 2011.

2015, Copenhagen

Rajat Chauhan: silver

India’s first compound archery medal in this tournament. Chauhan was the first Indian to win an individual medal at the World Championships.

Women’s recurve team: silver

(Deepika Kumari , Rimil Buriuly, Laxmirani Majhi)

Silver for Chauhan

The Times of India, Aug 02 2015

Archiman Bhaduri & Ritu Sejwal

20-year-old wins India's first individual medal in world archery

Rajat Chauhan created history by winning a silver medal in the World Archery Championships in Copenhagen on Saturday . This is India's first individual medal in the World event.The 20-year-old marksman, who won the team gold medal in the A Asian Games last year, went down s fighting to local favourite Stephan Hansen of Denmark 147-143 in the compound individual final event. Chauhan started well against Hansen, matching his local rival arrow for arrow to tie the first two sets, both scoring 29 points each. In the third set, Hansen opened up a handy three-point lead with three perfect 10s to net 30 points. Chauhan could manage only 27 in that third set.

The Indian rallied well in the fourth set to reduce the deficit by one point. But Hansen, buoyed by local support, produced his best yet again and came up with a perfect score (30) in the last set to take the match away from Chauhan who managed a creditable 28.

Silver for women's recurve team

The Times of India, Aug 03 2015

Archiman Bhaduri

The women's recurve team failed to win the final against Russia and had to be content with a silver medal in the World Archery Championship in Copenhagen . It was India's second silver medal of the meet ­ their best-ever show in the World Championship. the women's recurve team, comprising Deepika Kumari, Laxmi Rani Majhi and Rimil Buriuly squandered a two-set lead to go down to top seed Russia 4-5 in the shoot-off at the Christiansborg Palace.

In spite of enjoying a handsome 4-0 lead at the end of the first two sets, the Indian trio finally had to settle for a silver medal. This was Russia's first world title in recurve category since 1991. After grabbing an Olympic quota place, the women's team began on a confident note winning the first two sets 56-54 and 54-53, respectively. World No 8 Deepika Kumari led from the front hitting the maximum number of 10s in the first two sets.

But Tuyana Dashidorzhieva, Ksenia Perova and Inna Stepanova slowly got into their groove. While they hit three 10s, Majhi and Buriuly shot seven each which helped the Russians crawl back into the contest by bagging the third set 56-52. ndia could have sealed the issue in the fourth set, but the trio lost their nerves. Deepika began with a nine, but Majhi and Buriuly could manage just 7 and 6 respectively . Although Deepika finished strongly with a 10, it was not good enough for India as the Russians won the fourth set 54-50 to tie the match at 4-4.

India, who shuffled the shooting order throughout the match, kept Deepika for the last shot in the ensuing three-arrow tie-breaker.Majhi matched Dashidorzhieva's perfect 10, but Buriuly came up with a poor 8 as the Russians hit back-to-back 9s.

2017: Mexico City

Recurve Men

17 Mangal Singh Champia India

33 Kinley Tshering Bhutan

57 Atanu Das India

57 Tarundeep Rai India

57 Nima Wangdi Bhutan

117 Lam Dorji Bhutan

Recurve Women

9 Promila Daimary India

33 Deepika Kumari India

57 Sonam Dema Bhutan

57 Monika Saren India

Compound Men

6 Abhishek Verma India

17 Aman Saini India

57 Gurwinder Singh India

Compound Women

9 Lily Chanu Paonam India

9 Jyothi Surekha Vennam India

17 Trisha Deb India

Recurve Men Team

9 India

27 Bhutan

Recurve Women Team

9 India -

Recurve Mixed Team

5 India

31 Bhutan

Compound Men Team

9 India

Compound Women Team

2 India

India’s first ever medal in the compound team archery section at the World Championships

Compound Mixed Team

9 India

World Cup

World Cup, 2015: Gold for India, Men's individual

The Times of India, August 15, 2015

Abhishek Verma gave India a perfect Independence Day gift by fighting his way to the gold medal in the compound men's individual section to open their account in the Archery World Cup Stage 3. Having failed as a team in the bronze play-off earlier in the day , the world number 18 was at his best in the individual final as he held on to his lead to wrap up the issue 148-145 against Esmaeil Ebadi of Iran.

The Asian Games silver medallist thus avenged his defeat to Ebadi at the Incheon 2014 in style.

World Cup, 2015: Silver for India, Mixed pair

The Times of India, Aug 17 2015

Indians bag silver in archery WC

Indian recurve mixed pair of Deepika Kumari and Mangal Singh Champia settled for a silver after losing to their Mexican opponents in the final in the Archery World Cup Stage 3. The Mexican pair of London Olympics silver medallists Aida Roman and Juan Rene Serrano took a 3-1 lead after the second end before winning the gold with a an easy 5-1 win in a one-sided contest.

Indoor World Cup, 2017: Indoor Archery World Cup: 1 medal

Deepika earns lone medal for India, December 5, 2017: The Times of India

Indian archers managed just one medal in the Indoor Archery World Cup Stage 2, that ended in Bangkok, thus failing to match their performance (nine medals) in the Asian Championship late last month. Thirdseeded Deepika Kumari won a bronze in the women’s recurve individual event when she defeated 13th-seeded Sayana Tsyrempilova of Russia 7-3.

World Youth Championships

2017: 3 medals

Jemson & Ankita strike gold, Oct 10 2017: The Times of India

Indian junior archers won three medals in the World Youth Championships that concluded in Rosario, Argentina. Jemson Ningthoujam and Ankita Bhakat clinched the gold medal in the mixed team event and the threemember junior men's recurve team, which also included Jemson, settled for a silver.

India's third medal came in the compound cadet women's team event with Khushbu Dhayal, Sanchita Tiwari and Divya Dhayal picking up a bronze.

Jemson and Ankita fetched India a gold medal at the World Youth Championships after six years. India's last gold medal at this meet had come in 2011 when Deepika Kumari had triumphed in the recurve junior category . Deepika had also won a gold in the recurve cadet category in 2009.