BKSP coach-cum-archer Aishwarzo Rahman outshone the regular competitors to write his name into the record books after equalling the national qualification record of 708 in the individual compound event on the opening day of the Teer 16th National Archery Championship in Gazipur on Wednesday.
Aishwarzo topped the field of 27 archers with 708 out of a possible 720, matching the highest individual qualification scores previously set by Newas Ahmed Rakib and Himu Bachhar in August and July 2025 during two separate National Open Ranking tournaments.
Himu and Newas Ahmed Rakib finished second and third in the qualification round with scores of 706 and 696 respectively.
The elimination round is scheduled to begin on Thursday.
Interestingly, Aishwarzo -- who has won gold twice in individual compound events at the 12th National Archery Championships and the Bangladesh Games -- is competing in the ongoing meet while also coaching his students.
“I also participated in competitions when I was the assistant coach of the national archery team in 2002, and this time BKSP allowed me to take part in the championships, so I am competing with others,” said Aishwarzo, who was a BKSP student from 2009 to 2016 before completing his honours and master’s degree in public administration from Chittagong University. He joined BKSP as a coach in 2025.
With more than 71 teams participating, BKSP finished first in six of the 10 events, underlining their dominance in the competition.
In the individual women’s compound qualification, BKSP student Kulsum Akhter Mone -- who won a bronze medal at the Asian Archery Championship in Dhaka in November -- topped the field of 24 archers with a score of 689. Bonna Akter of Bangladesh Air Force and Shreeporna Biswas of BKSP finished second and third with 689 and 684 respectively.
“Our hard work paid off, as we trained the archers for 40 to 45 hours a week instead of the scheduled 16.5 hours. It is the outcome of our love for archery,” said BKSP head coach Noor-E-Alam, adding that BKSP teams also set records in the qualification rounds of the women’s recurve and compound mixed events.
While Bangladeshi archers are showing clear improvement in compound events, performances in the recurve category have dipped. Recurve archers, who once regularly scored between 680 and 690, are now struggling to cross those marks.
In the men’s recurve qualification, Rakib Mia of Bangladesh Air Force topped the standings with 673 out of 720, while his teammates Ramkrishna Saha and Abdur Rahman Alif finished second and third with 667 and 662 respectively.
In the women’s recurve qualification, Saima Saleh Uddin, a Grade 9 student of BKSP, finished first with 649 out of 720, followed by Sima Akhter Shimu of Bangladesh Air Force and Sonali Roy of BKSP, who scored 635 and 622 respectively.
