History of Archery in India

Archery has a rich tradition in India with the Indian epics being replete with the heroic feats of ace archers like Arjuna, Eklavya and Karan. But India's tryst with modern Olympic archery started only in 1975, three years after the game had been chosen as part of the Olympic discipline in the 1972 Munich Games.

In 1973, the Archery Association of India (AAI) conducted the first National Meet under FITA rules in New Delhi in which more than 50 archers participated. In absence of any modern equipment, the archers had to make do with bamboo bows and arrows made in Meghalaya and West Bengal.

The Archery Association of India played a leading role in promoting archery in Asia and when the Asian Archery Association came to be formed during the 1978 Bangkok Asian Games, AAI president Vijay Kumar Malhotra was elected as its first President.