National Ranking Archery circuit meet from Saturday

New Delhi, Dec. 24: The first National Ranking Archery Circuit Tournament (3rd Phase) will be held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here from December 27 to 29.

About 70 top archers — 50 men and 20 women — are expected to participate in the Rs 1.75 lakh prize money event sponsored by Delhi Development Authority, President of Delhi Archery Association, Jagdish Mukhi told reporters here on Wednesday.

The third phase of the circuit competition is seen as a tune-up event for the Athens Olympics in which India has received a quota place for three men and three women archers along with the two team events.

The first phase, in which four such meets were held, was conducted before the World Championships in New York while the second phase was held as part of the tune up for the Asian Championship, Myanmar.

Mukhi said the organisers would provide hospitality to top 16 men and 8 women of the last circuit meet who will vie for honours with the other competitors.

Only those archers who have scored 1200 and 1150 points out of 1440 respectively in a single event are eligible for participating in the meet, he said.

The second meet will be held in Jamshedpur in February, the third in Pune in March and the final meet will be conducted in Meerut in June before the selection of the India team for the Olympic games, Mukhi added.

The event will be inaugurated by Delhi’s Lt. Governor Vijay Kapoor, he said. (PTI)