The SAIL stadium in Kasmar block of Bokaro district is geared up to host the state archery championship, which kick-starts on Saturday.

The two-day event has been organised by Bokaro District Archery Association (BDAA) under the aegis of the Jharkhand Archery Association (JAA). Over 150 archers from different districts will be participating in the event.

JAA vice-president SC Mohanty, during a telephonic conversation with this correspondent, mentioned that some top senior archers including the likes of Arjuna awardees Mangal Singh Champia, Jayanta Talukdar, Olympian Laxmirani Majhi, national medalists Gurucharan Besra, Binod Swansi, and Dilip Swansi will also be participating in the championship.

“The state meet will be conducted in under-9, mini, sub-junior, junior, and senior categories. We are looking forward to a hassle-free event in Bokaro,” said Mohanty, who is also the joint secretary of Archery Association of India (AAI).

Karan Karmakar, who is looking after the technical aspects of the state meet, said that archers have started arriving for the meet. “Most of the archers have arrived, the remaining participants are expected to reach by tomorrow morning,” he added.

Mohanty said, “We already have had the state meet for the compound and Indian round (read shooting with traditional bows and arrows). We will be announcing the state squads for the Indian round, compound, recurve, and national meet in due course of time. We have some very good archers who stand a chance of bagging medals at the national meet,” he added.

The junior national meet is scheduled in Dehradun between March 8 and 15, dates for the sub-junior and senior events are yet to be announced.

According to JAA officials the state squad for the junior national is likely to be announced by next week, while the ones for sub-junior and senior national events by early next month.