Asian Archery: Bangladesh wins two bronze medals for 1st time

Bangladesh earned two bronze medals on the 5th day of the 22nd Teer Asian Archery Championship in the recurve men's and recurve women's team's events at Bangladesh Army Stadium in Banani on Wednesday.

Bangladesh recurve women's archery team comprises Diya Siddiqui, Nasrin Akter and Beauty Roy created history by winning the first-ever medal, a bronze, in the Asian Championship beating Do Thi Anh, Ha and Nguyen Thi Thanh of Vietnam by 5-3 sets.  

Bangladesh recurve men's team comprising Ruman Sana, Hakim Ahmed Rubel and Ram Krishno Saha won the day's 2nd bronze medal beating Abdullin, Mussayev and Zhangbyrbay of Kazakhstan by 6-2 sets in a bronze deciding match.

Bangladeshi archer Ruman Sana who had earlier won medal in the Archery World Cup to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics directly today (Wednesday) earned another feat by winning the medal for the first time in the Asian Archery.

After winning the bronze medal, Bangladeshi celebrated archer Ruman Sana in his immediate reaction said: "We are improving day by day, our players are advancing through a plan to win medals, but, we are now not as strong as the Korean or Indian archers. But we are more confident than before since the arrival of German coach Martin Federick because we are now playing a lot of tournaments".

"I have earlier said that this time we have a bright chance to win the medal and finally we have been able to fulfil our dream by achieving the target of winning a medal, which is a big achievement in our sports arena," he further said.

 "I have repeatedly said that the more matches you play, the more confidence you will earn, We have been able to overcome nervousness while playing on the big stage. Playing more matches will increase the confidence level like India, Korea and we'll able to win more medals from international tournaments," he added

Bangladesh however concluded the day with a losing note in other events as Bangladesh compound men's team comprising Mohammad Ashiquzzaman, Newaz Ahmed Rakib and Mohammad Sohail Rana lost to India 223-235 in the bronze deciding match.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh mixed team will battle in the gold deciding final match against Korea on Friday (November 19) at the same venue.