It wasn’t an easy day for the compound archers on the opening day of the Sahara-33rd Senior National archery championship at Anna University ground here on Thursday. Strong winds tested the concentration of the players. While many managed to land the bull’s eye, quite a few fumbled, completely missing the target at times.
The qualifying rounds saw nearly 400 archers compete under difficult conditions. Ch. Jignas, a Services archer, said it was not a normal day.
His senior teammate C. Srither said he had rarely experienced such winds. Yogesh Dewangan of Uttar Pradesh, a recurve archer, also admitted the conditions were tough.
“The wind was difficult to handle.
“This is the first time I am seeing this kind of wind in archery,” he said.
World class facilities
For Competitions Director Ms. Matsiewdor War Nongbri, the facilities offered here were “world class”.
“The organisers have given more than 60 targets for the championship.
“This is world class. The turnout also is huge,” said the international judge, hailing from Meghalaya.
Nongbri, a former National champion, who has taken part in two Asian Games, said it was a matter of time before Indians won medals in the Olympics.
“I see a lot of potential for Indian archery,” she said.
The Archery Association of India did not release the qualifying results of the compound category to the media, owing to verification.
The qualifiers of the recurve section was postponed to Friday.
International archers — Deepika Kumari, Bombalaya Devi, Dola Banerjee, Rahul Banerjee and Jayanta Talukdar — were ready to kick-start their campaign, when the organisers announced the postponement of the recurve section.
