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The Indian archery squad will ‘aim’ to improve on their Asian Games tally of 3 medals, won in Guangzhou four years ago, when the 17th edition of the Asian Games gets underway at Incheon from 19th September 2014. Archery was dropped from the Commonwealth Games, and the Asiad gives the archers a chance to make amaends for a disastrous Olympic Games in 2012. They returned empty handed then, and they would want to start afresh with an eye on the Rio Games in 2016.
Countries like South Korea, Japan, China and Chinese Tapei would provide tough competition for the Indians and a medal in the Games will go a long way in boosting the morale of the players.
A mixed year for Indian archers
The Indians have had a mixed outing in the recently concluded World Cup, with ace archer Deepika Kumari having failed to qualify for the Stage 1 and Stage 3 World Cups. The 20 year old slumped to her lowest ranking of 19, before she could make amends in the Stage 4 of the WC, the concluding meet of the season. She won gold in the women’s recurve team event and bagged two bronze medals in the individual and mixed categories in Wroclaw, Poland.
The men’s recurve team comprising Tarundeep Rai, Jayanta Talukdar and Atanu Das settled for silver, losing out to Mexico 3-5 in the final.
The Indian compound pair of Abhishek Varma and Purvasha Shende too got silver in the mixed team event.
However, dismal performance in the first 3 stages of the World Cup meant that only one Indian Rajat Chauhan qualified for the World Cup finals- where the cumulative scores over 4 stages of the WC are taken into account, with the top 8 in each category qualifying. Rajat finished sixth in the rankings, but lost in the quarter finals by a signle point, to return without a medal.
However, despite the performances, Indian coach Dharmendra Tiwary is hopeful that the Indian archers are peaking at the right time and he hopes they can bring at least four medals for the nation.
The medal hopefuls
Besides former World No. 1 Kumari, who is a 3 time World Cup silver medallist, Tarundeep Rai remains the biggest bet for India in the Asian Games. He is the only Indian archer to have won an individual medal-a silver at Guangzho. Although buoyed with injuries recently, the Sikkimese has been the most consistent player for the nation and Tiwary hopes he can come home with the elusive medal.
Youngster Atanu Das, who won silver in Poland in the Men’s team event is a bronze medallist in the Indoor Archery WC in 2013/ Stage 2 and he would be hoping he too can return from his maiden Asiad with a medal.
The recurve men’s team also comprises of Jayanta Talukdar, bronze medallist in the teams event in 2010 Asian Games. The experienced Rahul Banerjee, gold medallist at the Delhi CWG, will be fighting it out in the individual event.
In the womens categories, all hopes will be pinned on the recurve team comprising Laishram Bombayla Devi, gold medallist in 2013 WC and Laxmirani Majhi, while Pranitha Vardhwani will compete in the individual category.
The compound category will make its debut in the Asian Games for the first time. The Indians were the first amongst Asian countries to have competed in this category and this early exposure will make them strong contenders.
Out of the 16 archers in the squad, 8 are taking part in the compound event. Rajat Chauhan and Lily Chanu Paonam will lead the men and women’s compound teams respectively.
The challenges that await them
With the failure of the Olympics fresh in their minds, the Indian squad will be under immense scrutiny to live up to expectations. Olympian Rahul Banerjee is aware that the competition in Incheon wont be easy as all the powerhouses of archery are taking part. The home advantage offered to South Korea will make it tough for the Indians, but he is optimistic that a good performance is on the way.
The new scoring system where World Archery (WA) has done away with built in sensors and where the position of the arrows is defined by optical solutions, will be a challenge according to Kumari. However, she still remains upbeat of her chances in Incheon. “I am ready for the challenge and will do my best to erase the nightmare of London,” she says.
Kumari had openly confessed her inability to handle pressure in the 2012 Olympics, which led to a first round exit. To aid the Indians in the mental aspect, the Archery Association of India arranged for current Olympic and World Champion Korean Ki Bo Bae to train with them.
The 16 member contingent landed in Korea on 23rd August, in order to acclimitize themselves to the conditions, especially the wind factor. The squad was under the watchful eyes of Korean coach Lim Chae Wong, in the midst of world class facilities in Gwangju, near Incheon. All eyes will be on them when the archery events get underway on 23rd September at the Gyeyang Asiad Archery Field.
The finals for the sport are scheduled to be held on 27th Sepetmeber 2014.
