Archery in India & Progress:-

India’s tryst with modern-day archery started in 1975, three years after the game was chosen as part of the Olympic discipline in the 1972 Munich Games. Archery took root in India in 1973 through the zealous efforts of the then Chief Executive Councillor of Delhi, Prof.Vijay Kumar Malhotra. In India, the first Senior National Archery Championship was held in Delhi in April 1973 in which about 50 men and women Archers participated. Participants used bamboo Bow and Arrows made in Meghalaya and West Bengal. The Bengal Archers were to the fore with their superior techniques.

AAI President, Prof. Vijay Kumar Malhotra, and Secretary General, Shri Gopesh Mehra introduced Archery in Asia, and Asian Archery Federation (now known as World Archery Asia) was formed in Bangkok during the Asian Games in 1978. Shri Malhotra was elected as the first President and Shri P.N. Mukherjee as the first Secretary General. India organized the maiden Asian meet in Calcutta in 1980. It was Prof.Vijay Kumar Malhotra who took the initiative to conduct the 1st Commonwealth Archery Championship in New Delhi in 1995. Commonwealth Archery Federation was formed during the Commonwealth Championship in which Prof.Malhotra was elected as the President and Air Vice-Marshal (Retd) C. L. Mehta as Secretary General. Prof.Malhotra was instrumental in including the sport of Archery in the list of Games to conduct during Commonwealth Games-2010.