SHILLONG : South West Khasi Hills emerged as the leading district after the Indian Round at the Meghalaya State Archery Championship 2026, winning 13 medals on the opening competitive day of the three-day tournament.
The district claimed 5 gold, 4 silver and 4 bronze medals to finish first in the standings, narrowly ahead of West Khasi Hills in a closely contested competition.
The championship, organised by the Archery Association of Meghalaya (AAM), began on Wednesday and is being held at the Sports Authority of India centre on the NEHU campus.
West Khasi Hills close behind
West Khasi Hills finished second with 4 gold, 2 silver and 5 bronze medals, while East Jaintia Hills secured third place with 3 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze medals.
East Garo Hills finished fourth with 3 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze medals, making it the highest-ranked district among the Garo Hills districts.
East Khasi Hills occupied fifth position with 1 gold and 4 silver medals.
Almost all participating districts have opened their medal accounts, with North Garo Hills the only district yet to win a medal.
Indian Round highlights traditional archery
The Indian Round is a competitive archery discipline that uses traditional-style bows and arrows made from materials such as bamboo, cane or wood, while retaining a setup similar to modern competitive archery.
The discipline was created in 1989, with Meghalaya’s own Woodward Sohliya among its pioneers.
The Indian Round has helped make competitive archery more accessible because traditional bows and arrows are considerably less expensive than modern technical equipment. It also helps preserve indigenous archery traditions and provides an important grassroots entry point into the sport.
At the Meghalaya championship, the Indian Round was contested across sub-junior, junior and senior levels for both male and female archers.
Events included individual, team and mixed-team categories.
Recurve and compound events on final day
The championship will conclude tomorrow with all the recurve and compound archery events scheduled to take place.
With the more modern disciplines still to be contested, the medal standings could change significantly before the championship concludes.