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A curious case in Indian sports is that of the Indian archery team. They're the same to Indian sports what South Africa is to cricket and Netherlands to football. There is no dearth of able players, and some of them have the potential to give even the best a run for their money. However, when their talent is needed the most, especially in events like Asian Games and Summer Olympics, the Indian archers cut a sorry figure.
As the archers gear up for the first major challenge of the season, i.e. the upcoming Jakarta Asian Games 2018, one question continues to persist: can Indian researchers finally have their say? More importantly, can they match the skills and charisma of their compound compatriots, who had struck gold in their very debut at the Incheon Asiad 2014, when compound archery was introduced for the first time.
India in Asiad archery: Debut after 12 years, medal after another 16 years:-
Yes, you heard that right. Officially, the much talked about sport made its Asiad debut in the 1978 Asiad, held at Bangkok. India, however, did not make their debut in this sport until 12 years later, in a rather forgettable Beijing Asiad.
Despite India being famous for their legendary archers Arjuna, Eklavya etc., they failed to win a single medal at these Games until Doha 2006, when a team of Tarundeep Rai, Jayanta Talukdar, Mangal Singh Champia and Vishwas clinched the bronze medal in the Men's Team event, their first ever medal in any archery event at the Asian Games.
The women's team clinched their debut medal in the 2010 edition, around the same time when their male counterparts maintained their place on the podium with a successive bronze medal. Guangzhou Asiad 2010 is also remembered for another historic achievement, when Tarundeep Rai shocked one and all to enter the finals of the individual men's recurve, becoming the first Indian individual to clinch a medal in archery.
Can India break the recurve jinx
The question still persists: Can India break the recurve jinx? It's been 8 years since Tarundeep Rai last won an individual medal from the recurve archery, and the previous Asiad was nothing less than a disaster for the recurve archers, who failed to get any medal for the first time since Busan 2002.
Ironically, the compound archers from India, who had just made their debut in this edition, won medals from all the categories, including a historic gold medal in the Men's Team event. The star archer, Abhishek Verma, also made it to the compound finals, though he narrowly missed a second consecutive gold medal to the Iranian archer Esmaeil Ebadi.
Even Trisha Deb, the compound archer for the women's category, created history as she became the first Indian woman archer to win a medal at the Asian Games, with a bronze from both the individual and the team category.
In such a position, the Indian recurve archers need to give it their all this time, if they want to be seriously counted as potential medal contenders for Tokyo Olympics. Atanu Das and Deepika Kumari will have to prove that their World Championship medals were no fluke, as they compete against the world's best at the Jakarta Asiad, starting from the 18th of August.
