Tokyo Olympics: It's now or never for Indian archery

Tokyo Olympics: What ails Team India?

Archery at the Olympics - What ails Team India?

What is the actual problem with Indian archers? What prevents them from making the Olympics their favorite playground? Isn't it surprising that a nation with a history of brave warriors like Arjuna, Birsa Munda, Maharana Pratap, and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, to name a few, has not won a single Olympic medal in archery? The only medal that India has achieved is a rather unsung bronze by Atul Varma at the Nanjing Youth Olympics in 2014.

What could be the reason? Is it because our archers are not as well equipped as their international counterparts? This is almost impossible because, since 2010, special attention has been given to archery. In fact, since 2015 and heading into the Tokyo Olympics, archery has been one of the top focus sports for the Government of India.

So what is the problem? It lies somewhere in the execution. When India needs their athletes to perform their best is when they falter. This is the same problem that ails South Africa in cricket, and which has been troublesome for the Netherlands in football.

So if India needs to ensure that the recurve archers don't become a laughing stock at the Tokyo Olympics, they need to give it their all to bring back the elusive Olympic medal. They also need to keep their wits about them and ensure that nobody chokes in the dying minutes of the contest.