Agra:

The first national “desi dhanush”, crossbow, championship will be held in the city from April 29 to 30. Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav had inaugurated the logo for the Indian Crossbow Shooting Association in March and said the state government would extend all support to promote the sport. He had also given the sport the name of “desi dhanush”. As many 30 crossbow shooters from five states will participate in the event which will be held at the Prelude Public School grounds later this week.

The crossbow event is the brainchild of Agra-resident and national player Rajat Vij, who is also the president of the Indian Crossbow Shooting Association.

Vij told TOI, “After the inaugural of desi dhanush by the state government, we are going ahead with the first national championship in Agra. Sportspersons from West Bengal, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi, besides Uttar Pradesh will participate in the two-day event.”

While the inaugural session will be held on April 29, the main sporting competition will take place the following day between 8am and 11.30am.

Vij said the sport is not very popular and only a handful of people know about it. The chief minister’s presence at the inauguration of the logo on March 17, has helped bring the sport to mainstream audience. He added that depending on the success of the first event, it would be held on much larger scale in the near future.

On March 17, a 18-member delegations of crossbow athletes from Japan, US, Sweden and Portugal had given a live demonstration of the crossbow event before an audience that included the CM.

Interestingly, during his address, Yadav had exhorted people to promote crossbow or “desi dhanush more than the bicycle”, referring to his party’s election symbol.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Agra / by Aditya Dev / TNN / April 27th, 2016