Delhi will host XIX Commonwealth Games in October with a record equaling 17 disciplines confirmed for competition. Among 17, there is archery, which is one of the oldest sporting events known to mankind. Archery events were held only once, in 1982 Brisbane Games. It will be for the second time, in 2010 Commonwealth Games that archery, will be a part of this prestigious Game.
The Brisbane Games offered only two gold medals in the men’s and women’s recurve double FITA round. Mark Blenkarne of England with a score of 2,446/2880 points won the men’s gold medal and Neroli Fairhall of New Zealand with the score of 2,373/2880 points won the women’s gold medal.The men’s silver medal went to Canada and the bronze medal to host Australia. The women’s silver medal was bagged by Northern Ireland and Canada took home the bronze medal.
Archery is considered as a game of great patience and concentration. It is played using bows and arrows. It has variety of techniques and requires great skills.The sport of Archery is divided into two categories namely Target Archery and Field Archery.
Target Archery is the most common and popular form of archery that is practiced worldwide. It is executed indoors as well as in open grounds. When the archer shoots indoor, the distance he encounters is around 18 meters, whereas on practicing outdoors the distance between the target and the archer is approx 90 meters.The target is around 60 centimeters in case of indoor archery and approx. 80 to 120 centimeters in case of outdoor archery.
Dola Banerjee
In Field Archery, the sporting event is executed outdoors on some rough area. This type of Archery involves bush walking and golf. In this there is a course made in a rough and bushy terrain. There are almost 24 to 28 targets fixed on the field. After this, the archer has to shoot three to four arrows at the targets, each one of them, individually. Targets are of various sizes like 20 and 80 centimeters, while the distance between the targets is approx. 10 to 60 meters.
The Indian archers have failed to live up to their potential in International tournaments. Delhi Commonwealth Games are a great opportunity for them to showcase their talent. India declared its 12 member squad after a selection trial from 64 probables.The Indian hopes rest mainly on men’s recurve team of JayantaTalukdar, TarundeepRai and Rahul Banerjee.The team picked up a gold at World Cup Stage II at Antalya, Turkey this year and had even wongold in the Invitational Commonwealth Games test.
Park Sung-Hyun, World Champion in archery, alongwid Yun Ok Hee, from South Korea will not be participating in the Delhi Commonwealth Games.
Due to the absence of Korean and Chinese players from CWG, India has a great chance of winning maximum gold medals.
Amongst women, Dola Banerjee (Rank 11) is expected to bring laurels for India.
International stars participating in CWG events are: Australia’s Patrick Coghlan (2008 World Cup Winner), Canadian Dietmar Trillus (ex-world champion), England’s Danielle Brown (Paralympic Gold Medallist).
The Indian Squad :
Recurve (men): Tarundeep Rai, Jayanta Talukdar, Rahul Banerjee
Recurve (women): Dola Banerjee, L Bombayala Devi, Deepika Kumari
Compound (men): C Srither, CH Jignas, Ritul Chatterjee
Compound (women): Jhanu Hansda, Gagandeep Kaur, Bheigyabati Chanu
