Olympians Jayanta Talukar and Deepika Kumari have accepted the helping hand from Olympic Gold Quest (OGQ) in their quest for world-class performances. Both archers signed up to facilitate training support for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
Talukdar, 27, is an experienced archer and took India to World No. 1 in 2011, along with Rahul Banerjee and Tarundeep Rai.
A bronze medallist in men’s team event at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games, he is looking to reproduce training form in competitions like the Incheon Asian Games next year.
Deepika, 19, is looking for competitive experience to perform in keeping with her talent and rating at the international level. She went into London Olympics 2012 as World No. 1 and crashed out of the individual event, cracking under the weight of expectations.
OGQ is looking at supporting the archers by tailoring individual programmes. “Archery is a unique sport, like shooting, where you cannot have one programme for everyone. We will get inputs from Jayanta and Deepika about the type of support they are looking for, based on experience,” said Viren Rasquinha, OGQ CEO.
He added, “they need support with respect to coaching and equipment, based on individual requirements, looking ahead to 2016 Rio Olympics. Both are world-class performers and can be counted among the medal hopefuls for India.”
OGQ is already supporting senior archers Rahul Banerjee and Tarundeep Rai.
Jayanta and Deepika are employed with Tata Steel and will continue to be on the rolls. “We heard about OGQ from other archers and with the professional support from them, we can focus on archery once other matters are handled by them,” said Deepika.
Jayanta explained: I want to remain confident in competition. Systematic preparation will go a long way in ensuring that state of mind,” he said.
OGQ supports three juniors also, namely Pratima Chauhan (Jharkhand), Pooja Chhetri (Sikkim) and Ishawari Chavan (Maharashtra). The foundation supports 50 Indian sportspersons in seven Olympic disciplines (archery, athletics, badminton, boxing, shooting, luge, wrestling).
