PINAKI MAJUMDAR
Jamshedpur, Oct 5: The Tata Archery Academy (TAA), set up by Tata Steel Sports Division to tap the archery skills of the tribal populations living in the geographies where Tata Steel operates, turned 25 on Monday.
The academy was formally inaugurated on October 4, 1996 by Jamshed J Irani, former director, Tata Sons.
Irani was the chief guest during the Silver Jubilee celebrations of the academy held at the JFC Media Room, JRD Tata Sports Complex in Jamshedpur.
Speaking on the occasion, Irani congratulated Tata Archery Academy for completing 25 glorious years and wished them all the best for many more such milestones.
He reminisced his association with the academy and highlighted the objective with which the academy was born.
He said: “The TAA was founded to promote archery in the country and tap the latent talent in the remote areas where our plants and mines operate. I am happy to note that it has lived up to its expectations.”
Chanakya Chaudhary, vice-president, Corporate Services, Tata Steel said, “TAA has been instrumental in nurturing local sporting talent. The archers only needed a small push with some formal training to become world-class athletes. The academy has been instrumental in finding talent from the interior areas of the country and will continue to invest in the cause of archery and strive for excellence in future endeavours.”
Sanjeev Kumar Choudhary, President, Tata Workers` Union lauded the efforts of TAA for creating wonderful infrastructure which has helped cadets to win medals at national and international archery championships.
The 25th anniversary celebrations also saw Irani felicitating archers Komalika Bari and Ankita Bhakat. Komalika Bari had joined Tata Archery Academy in 2016 and made her mark in international competitions and won a gold medal at the World Archery Youth Championship held in Madrid, Spain, in 2019.
She had also won a gold medal in the Indian Women’s Recurve Archery ‘Team Category’ in the Archery World Cup held in Guatemala in 2021.
Ankita Bhakat, meanwhile, had joined TAA in 2014. At the 2021 Archery World Cup, she won the gold medal as part of India’s Recurve Women’s Team and the bronze in India’s Recurve Mixed Team.
At the Hyundai Archery World Cup in 2021, she won gold medal as part of the women’s team, defeating Mexico 5-1 in the finals.
Both the archers have been selected to represent India at the Senior Archery World Championship being held in the USA.
The vote of thanks was proposed by Farzan Heerjee, chief, protocol Sports, Tata Steel where he thanked the National Archery Association and Jharkhand Archery Association for supporting TAA in all its endeavours and taking archery to the international level. He also thanked past and present management of Tata Steel and TAA and TWU for their unrelenting support.
