She has received the Roll of Honour by Rotary Club, Shillong in 1985. The organisation also awarded her the Rotary Award in 1985. She is also a recipirnt of the U Kiang Nongbah Award in 1989.

Ms. War Nongbri has achieved a lot in the sporting arena. She has represented India at various international events such as the 9th Asian Games, New Delhi in 1982, the 10th Asian Games, Seoul, South Korea in 1986 and the 5th Asian Cup Archery Meet at Calcutta (now Kolkata) in 1989.

She qualified as an international  judge in Seoul in 1994 and has represented the country in that capacity in numerous international events such as the Junior and Cadet World Archery Championships at Nymburg, Czechoslovakia in 2001, the World Games in Field Archery in Duisburg, Germany in 2005, the Archery World Cup and EMAU Grand Prix at Dover, England in 2006 and the Archery World Cup and MAU Grand Prix at Boe, France in 2008.

A member of the Meghalaya Civil Service, she is presently serving as the Director of The Meghalaya State Cooperative Marketing & Consumers’ Federation Ltd (MECOFED), Ms. War Nongbri has not permitted her official duties to interfere with her love of sports. In fact, she is also the present President of the Association of Meghalaya. Her latest achievement may be her greatest as Ms. War Nongbri is set to represent India as a judge in the forthcoming London Olympics. Eastern Panorama recently sat down with Ms. War Nongbri as she shared her opinions about the sport, its prospects for the youth of the north east and also her participation in the sporting event of the year.

EP: Can you tell us a little about your journey to this level?

Matsiewdor War Nongbri: First of all, thank you for allowing me to be part of Eastern Panorama. Basically I have been a sportsperson all my life due to the fact that my father was a sportsperson. Right from our school days, my siblings and I had been involved in various sports such as basketball, football, volleyball and others. Almost by the end of my school days, that is by the time I was in class 8 or 9, I picked up archery. It was introduced to me by my father. We would go to Polo Grounds and he introduced me to the local traditional archery which we have in Meghalaya. From then on, by December 1981, I had my first chance to participate in the Sub – Junior National Archery Championships at Jabalpur.  I won a silver and bronze medal immediately in that competition and that was one of the main reasons that motivated me, as it would have all sportspersons, to take up this sport more seriously. From then on it was a race to the peak. I continued my archery career up to 1991. Throughout my career I had participated in two international tournaments – One Asian Cup at Kolkata and one Asian Games in 1986 in Korea as a player.

Beyond 1991, there was a small gap after which in 1994 I appeared for the examinations of the International FIDA Judge. FIDA is the International federation for archery now known as the World Archery Federation.
 
From 1994 onwards, I was involved and still am involved in the International Federation as an international judge. We have our exams every two years and reaccredidation every two years where we have to appear for exams again and again. Based on that, I have had the opportunity to officiate in many world level tournaments such as the World Cup, World Championships, Asian Games and so on.

EP: From your days of being an athlete to now being a judge, what changes have you seen in the sport?

MWN: There has been huge change I would say especially in the level of the equipment that is being used. We already had the archery recurve bows which basically consist of fiberglass limbs, the handle and other accessories. With time this has become very sophisticated with the bio – mechanical analysis of the players and the strength of the bows, the length of the arrows and such. The equipment has drastically changed and has become very efficient which I am sure is the reason why the scores of the archers now are very high when compared to those in our days. During those times, in a normal round we would score maybe a 1200 out of a 1440. However, now archers shoot scores of 1420 or 1430 and there have been times when they have actually achieved perfect scores. That is how much archery has changed. This, of course, is in respect of international participation in the sport.

EP: What are your thoughts on being the first woman from the state to be selected as an judge at the Olympics.

MWN: It is a huge honour for myself personally, for the family which has been there for me in this sport and in all aspects of my life and most of all, for my state and my country. It’s a milestone and the highest honour that one can achieve in sports. I have always wanted to be an athlete in the Olympics but that could not come true. However I am happy that I can be there now as an official. I hope that this achievement is to be celebrated not by me alone but by everyone in the sporting arena, be it archery or any other sport and I hope that there are others who will be able to do the same as there is much potential here in Meghalaya in terms of athletes and officials.

EP: Going back to what you said, archery is a male dominated sport in Meghalaya. What drove you to take it up?

MWN: When you talk about domination of males in archery, it is basically because of the ancient traditions by which the game is followed in our state. However, in modern target archery, we already have a plethora of women athletes, women archers in the country. We have not less than 5000 to 6000 woman athletes in the country. Even in our state, the number of woman athletes has come up very, very fast. In fact, we are coaching 20 athletes on a daily basis throughout the year in Polo Grounds.

For me personally, as I said before, it was my father who introduced me to the sport and incidentally I was also quite inquisitive as to where this would lead me and what kind of prospects it would have in the future. Once I took up the sport, I was attracted to it firstly because it is not a team sport, maybe because I am an individual oriented person and archery is a very individual sport. You can pursue it individually and give it your best individually. That is probably why I stuck to this sport apart from the fact that I love it.

EP: You say that you are training around 20 archers on a daily basis. However, I think the representation at the national and international levels is quite low from the state and the region. What do you think are the reasons for this?

MWN: If you are talking about our state, we have had very good participation in the past. In fact, we have two international woman archers in our state. One is Naomi Laloo and the other is Bansaralin Dhar. They have represented the country in international events and they have even won medals. It is just that maybe their names are not upfront. Bansaralin is now an archery coach. So there is no dearth of women in archery, that is for sure.

As I said before, we do not have a drawback when it comes to the number of potential athletes. However, we can not train more than 20 archers at a time because of the lack of equipment. We have equipment but what we have at hand is simply not enough. A normal recurve bow would cost anywhere between Rs 50,000 to Rs 1.5 lakhs to Rs 2 lakhs depending on the level of shooting. This is the main reason why we can not have more than 20 archers training at one time. We from the Archery Association of Meghalaya of which I am the President, are conducting talent scouting every year, at least once a year. We can not do it twice a year but we make sure that we do it at least once a year. We are planning to scout talent more and more in the years to come depending on the kind of help and cooperation we get from the government in terms of funds. So, funds is one thing, equipment is another. However, when it comes to talent, there is no dearth of it.

EP: What can be done to promote these athletes who have represented the nation in archery but have not received much recognition?

MWN: As I have said, we have a plethora of talent. In fact, in the Indian Olympic archery team which has qualified for the Olympics, two of the athletes are from the north east region. One is Chekrovolu Swuro from Nagaland and the other is Laishram Bombayla Devi from Manipur. This just goes to show that we are there and that we can be there. Now, when it comes to Meghalaya, it will take a little bit of time. We need a lot more equipment, we have the coaches but we need more infrastructure. We do not have our own ground for practice. We practice on a ground where we can be stopped at any time because there are other events being conducted on the ground. So this is one area which I hope the government will take up in the near future. As of right now, this is where we stand but in a matter of one or two years, we should be seeing some international athletes from our state.

EP: What does the prestigious recognition of being selected as a judge at the Olympics mean to your sports oriented family?

MWN: As I said before, we love sports and have always been involved in sports. Sport is in our blood and my family would agree with me as they always say that they are proud of what I have achieved and where I have reached. I am what I am not only because of myself. It is because of who I am as a Khasi, as a person from this state. I have been brought up in the state, I have attended a very good school in Loretto which has shaped my personality. Apart from this, there is input from friends, from peers and again from the government. All these put together make me who I am and has helped me reach where I am today. For this I am proud and thankful to all who have been responsible for this and of course I wouldn’t be here had it not been for God.

CANDID QUESTIONS

Hobbies – Music, movies, I’m a bit of a gizmo freak and I love fishing

Would love to – No comment

Would die for – I would not die for anything

Favourite athlete – I do appreciate the tennis player Leander Paes

Favourite movie - Avatar

Star you would love to spend a day with – Sushmita Sen

Favourite destination – Anywhere with good fishing grounds

Worst nightmare – Never really had nightmares.

Most memorable moment – When I entered the Nam Dae mun Stadium in Korea in 1986 in Seoul, South Korea for the 10th Asian Games as a member of the Indian contingent.

You Hate - Liars

You Love –  Genuine people

Dream Date – Angelina Jolie