Archery Association of India (AAI) president Arjun Munda on Sunday said he would speak to union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman to exempt import duty on bows.
Munda, who felicitated Dronacharya awardee Dharmendra Tiwary at the Circuit House, said doing away with the import duty on both recurve and compound bows will benefit the archers to get the equipment at a lower price.
“I would speak to the finance minister in this regard. Exempting import duty would enable the AAI to purchase the equipment in lots and distribute the same among archers,” Munda said.
An import duty of 28 per cent is imposed on bows.
The union tribal affairs minister said he wants to promote archery across the country and unearth talents from hinterlands.
Praising Tiwary, chief coach of Tata Archery Academy, Munda said he should have been awarded much earlier. “Tiwary is the pride of the country and Jharkhand. He has produced Olympians and Arjuna awardees with his training. I hope the country’s archers would win medals in the Tokyo Olympic Games,” the former chief minister added.
Munda said he wanted to felicitate Tiwary in a grand manner but had to keep things low-key owing to the pandemic. “Getting the Dronacharya award is a great achievement by Tiwary and I wanted to honour him in a grand manner. However, the pandemic played spoilosport,” he said.
Tiwary, who has coached Olympians like Deepika Kumari, Atanu Das, Jayant Lakukdar and Rahul Banerjee, was also the mentor of the Indian men’s archery team in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janiero.
“There is no dearth of talented archers in Jharkhand. The state archery outfit is doing a wonderful job in bringing hidden talents to the forefront. I thank Mundaji for honouring me,” Tiwary said.
AAI joint secretary and secretary of Seraikela-Kharsawan District Archery Association Sumanta Kumar Mohanty, JAA secretary and Dronacharya awardee Purnima Mahto, East Singhbhum District Archery Association chief Dinesh Kumar, coaches B.S. Rao and Harendra Singh were present at the felicitation ceremony.
