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Archery evolution in India
The history of Archery has got historical significance as in the ancient civilization bows and arrows were used as a weapon to hunt wild animals and also in wars. Hundreds of years have passed since then and now bows and arrows are not used at warfares or to hunt wild animals but to win medals for the country.
Archery was first included in the Olympics in the year 1972. In 1973, the Archery Association of India (AAI) was established and just few months after that the first national Archery Championship was held in Lucknow.
Ever since then the Indian archers are regularly performing well at the International level. Deepika Kumari, a former world no. 1 in women’s recurve event is highly responsible for the growth of Archery in India.
With the growth of Archery in India, a number of other archers are also showing their talent and making the nation proud at the highest level and among those archers two of the most talented and accomplished archers are Trisha Deb and Abhishek Verma.
Rise of Trisha Deb
Trisha Deb, who is currently the world number 39 in women’s compound event was born in a lower middle class family in Kolkata where her father worked in a private company, while mother used to give tuitions. Her journey in Archery began in the year 2000 in Bada Nagar archery club which has produced star archer like Dola Banerjee.
Trisha had lots of ups and downs in her career. She became the sub-junior national champion in 2004 and 2005 in recurve event. Trisha was selected in the Indian senior team at the young age of 14 and she shocked the entire Archery fraternity when she won the bronze medal in 2005 in the senior national championship.
This was the end of a beautiful era for young Trisha as she completely lost her form and as a result she was dropped from the Indian team a couple of years later. She tried for few more years but then lost all hopes of a comeback.
But with due efforts of her coach Jiwanjot singh, who realized that due to her short height she is not suited for Recurve but was suited for compound event as compound bows are more powerful and accurate. Trisha’s coach was not wrong in changing her event as in 2012 Trisha became the individual compound champion in the All-India Inter-University Archery Championships.
Trisha recently won the bronze medal in the archery World Cup tournament held at Turkey in 2014 with her fellow team mates Purvasha and Lily Chanu.
She also played a major role when India Archery team clinched there first ever World Cup medal in 2013 held in Shanghai where she was a part of women’s compound archery team.
In the ongoing Asian Games in Incheon,South Korea,Trisha Deb has entered the last four of the women’s individual compound event. Trisha comprehensively defeated Iranian Shabnam Sarlak 142-131 in the Quarterfinals.
Abhishek Verma – the experienced archer
Abhishek Verma, who is now in the spotlight after defeating World Champion Choi Yonghee of Korea in the quarterfinals of men’s individual compound event in the Incheon Asian games is one of the most promising archer of the nation.
He started his international career in 2005 by participating in the Archery World Championships held at Mexico. Abhishek’s career started to take a boom in the year 2013 when he won three gold medals in Asian Archery Championship held in Taiwan. It was due to his efforts that India was able to win 4 gold medals and was at the top of the medal tally.
Abhishek has also won several awards like Arjuna Award in 2014 for his excellent performance in Asian Archery championship 2013 and Rajiv Gandhi Delhi State Award in 2007.
In March 2014, he participated in Asian Grand Prix tournament held at Thailand, Bangkok and bagged one gold and two silver medals in men’s team compound event.
We wish that Trisha and Abhishek will rise like a phoenix in the near future and would make the country proud at the highest level.
