Now, Sahara adopts archery for four years

The Sahara Group announced on Wednesday it would sponsor the senior India archery teams for the next four years. Already the sponsors of the India senior cricket and hockey teams, the group adopted boxers and wrestlers in February, report Sharad Deep & Nilankur Das.

The Sahara Group announced on Wednesday it would sponsor the senior India archery teams for the next four years. Already the sponsors of the India senior cricket and hockey teams, the group adopted boxers and wrestlers in February.

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Following an agreement, the Archery Association of India would get Rs 80 lakh every year for hosting senior national meets and to be given as incentives to 'promising' and 'performing' archers. It was learnt that an amount of Rs 30 lakh would be kept aside from the total for the archers.

"Despite winning medals regularly at the World Cups and World Championships, archery did not have a sponsor and we had to depend on various patrons to stage the national and ranking meets," AAI general-secretary Pareshnath Mukherjee told HT on Wednesday.

"The AAI will recommend names of promising and performing archers for cash incentives," he said . The recurve archers would get more weightage as it is an Olympic event, Mukherjee said.

Subrata Roy, the group's chief, said: "Archery has rich cultural roots and has great potential in India. I feel India have an edge to excel in skill sports at the international level and bring glory to our motherland."