Archery
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Much like shooting which involves a lot of concentration, focus and discipline, archery has also seen a lot of exceptional athletes coming from the army overs the years. Tarundeep Rai from 58 Gorkha Training Center, Shillong has represented India at the Olympics. He became the first Indian to win an individual men's silver medal in archery at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China. He also won the silver medal with the Indian team at the 2005 World Championship in Madrid, Spain.
Meanwhile, Majhi Sawaiyan represented India in archery at the 2004 Athens Olympics. He won silver medals in the team event of the 13th and 14th Asian Archery Championships.
Soccer
The so-called “Pahari regiments” of the Indian Army – namely the Gorkha Rifles, Garhwal Rifles, Kumaon Regiment and Assam Regiment – which draw most of their troops from the Himalayan region, are known to be the powerhouses of soccer within the services fold.
The Gorkha Brigade Football team was one of the top teams vying for domestic titles during the 60s. They won the Durand Cup in 1966 and 1969 besides losing out to Madras Regimental Center in the 1958 finals.
Meanwhile, the Madras Regimental Center team won the Durand Cup in 1955 and 1958. Some of the services footballers who made it to the Indian national team were ace strikers Shyam Thapa and Amar Bahadur Gurung from the Gorkha Rifles and Peter Thangaraj from the Madras Regiment.
The Services team has been a force to reckon with in the national football arena, winning the prestigious Santhosh Trophy five times besides being the finalist on five other occasions.
The Services team are also the reigning national football champions. Havaldar Anthony Chettri, the current skipper of the Services Football team, happens to be from the 107 TA battalion which is affiliated to the 11th Gorkha Rifles regiment of the Indian Army.
