Despite having three world class archers, India will not contest the men's Recurve final of the fourth Asian Grand Prix archery tournament. Only Vishwash will figure in the bronze medal play-off. India, however, managed to have four in the finals of the other events at the end of the penultimate day of the competition on September 18.

After the men Recurve archers performed poorly in the morning, the ladies managed to lift the spirits in the afternoon with awesome display in the women's Recurve. Four of them moved into the semifinals thus ensuring all the medals in this category. Rimil Buriuly and Laxmi Rani Majhi will contest the final while two Olympians Dola Banerjee and V. Pranitha will face off in the third place match.

Gutsy Chungda Sherpa made it to the men's compound final and will come up against Ali Majazidalfard of Iran. National champion C. Srither will challenge Tim Keppie of Scorland for the bronze medal.

Manjudha Soy will take on Tracy McGowan of Scotland in the women's compound final. Two Indians Namita Yadav and Bheigyabati Chanu will meet in the bronze medal game.

Wheel-chair bound Ebrahim Ranjbar of Iran will be up against Mohammad Sajjad Hossain of Bangladesh in the men's Recurve final. It was indeed a historic day for Bangladesh which managed to place an archer in the final of Grand Prix event for the first time.

Top seed Champia lost in the third round to Mark Forrester of Scotland at 108-112 and second seed Rahul Banerjee fell to ultimate finalist 10th ranked Hossain of Bangladesh at 106-107 in the quarterfinals. Third seed Tarundeep Rai went down to 14th-ranked Simon Needham of Scotland at 108-109 in the third round and fourth seed Jayanta Talukdar was ousted Ranjbar 103-108 in the quarterfinals.

Fifth seed Muni Ram Tirkey lost to Ranjbar in the third round at 110-113 and sixth seed Vishwash lost to Hossain in the semifinals after both tied at 108-108. In the one-arrow shoot off the Indian shot an 8 and the Bangladeshi hit a 10. Seventh-ranked K. Shiv Shankar was eliminated by Hossain in the third round at 107-109 and ninth-ranked Bul Bul Marandi lost to eighth-ranked Mohammad Emdadul Haque Milon of Bangladesh at 105-111 in the third round.

The team finals will be played on the morning session of September 19 and the individual finals in the afternoon.

Indian archers swept all the top places in the ranking round of the fourth Asian Grand Prix archery tournament at the SAI, Eastern Centre, on September 17.

Olympian Mangal Singh Champia topped the men's recurve event with a score of 679 points out of 720. Rahul Banerjee was second with 678 while Tarundeep Rai, competing as an individual entry, occupied the third spot relegating Jayanta Talukdar to the fourth spot.

Young Rimil Buriuly was the best among the recurve women with a score of 651 points. She was followed by two individual entries, V. Pranitha (649) and Laxmi Rani Majhi (638). Two other Indian team members, Dola Banerjee (634) and Reena Kumari (626) were fourth and fifth respectively.

Archers shot 36 arrows twice over 70m distance in the ranking round.

The Indians' domination even in compound event was complete. Kh. Ratan Singh, out of the Indian team for this meet after a dismal performance at the 45th World Championship at Ulsan, showed what he was capable of by ranking first in the men's compound event with a score of 694. He was followed by two Indian team members, Chungda Sherpa (689) and National champion C. Srither (688).

Reza Zamaninejad of Iran at the fifth position with a score of 684 was the best foreign entry.

India's top ranked women compound archer, Jhano Hansdah, ruled the roost with a total of 688. The other two Indian team members, Namita Yadav (676) and Manjudha Soy (664) followed the leader.

The Indian men's recurve trio of Mangal Singh, Rahul Banerjee and Jayanta Talukdar took the first place in the team ranking with a score of 2022 points. Bangladesh was second with 1914 and Scotland was third two points behind. Eight teams were identified in this section.

The Indian women's recurve team occupied the top spot with 1911. Iran was second with 1683 and Bhutan was third with 1617. Bangladesh brought up the rear with 1592.

Only three teams were identified in the men's compound with India taking the first place with a total of 2055 points. Scotland was second (2040) and Iran was third (2022). The technical conduct committee decided to give India a bye to the final. Scotland and Iran would play for a place in the final against India.

Four teams emerged in the women's compound event with India topping the field with 2028 points. Scotland finished second (2019), Iran was third (1975) and Bangladesh was fourth (1518). In the semifinals, India will play Bangladesh and Scotland will take on Iran.

Individual elimination up to semifinals will be gone through in both recurve and compound divisions in men's and women's categories on the third day of the four-day event on Friday.

Prof. V.K. Malhotra inaugurates 4th Asian Grand Prix

Archery Association of India president, Prof. V.K. Malhotra, declared the fourth Asian archery Grand Prix open at the Sports Authority of India, Netaji Subhas Eastern Centre, on September 16.

The Asian GP has attracted nine countries including host India and on paper it looks like India versus Iran in most of the events.

The short inaugural programme began with a smart march past by the participating countries followed by performances by Kolkata Police band and a cultural troupe. Eye-catching fireworks lit up the evening sky after Prof. Malhotra declared the meet open.

Many dignitaries were present on the dais during the programme.

On Thursday ranking rounds will be gone through in both recurve and compound categories for men and women. On Friday the elimination round in both individual and team events and on Saturday all the finals will be held.