City archers, known for winning medals at international fixtures, have done it again by pocketing five medals, including two gold medals, at the World Open Indoor Archery championship that concluded recently in Singapore. Archers of Volga Archery Academy in Gunadala also had an opportunity to take part in the indoor format for the first time.
“Both outdoor and indoor formats have different techniques. What matters in indoor is accuracy and velocity of wind will not be a factor. The archers can learn the art of perfect release (of the arrow) in indoor competitions,” says academy chairman Ch. Satyanarayana. He said that the targets are kept at a distance of 18 metres unlike outdoors where the target is placed 50-metres away from archers.
MemorableFor Poorvasha Shinde, the experience in Singapore was memorable as she won gold in the under-16 compound segment blanking an archer from host country 6-0 and bowing out in the quarterfinal in the senior division.
Myneni Sai Charith bagged the other yellow metal in the under-14 compound final taming a Singaporean 6-4, while B. Deeraj in the under-14 compound segment settled for a silver crashing out to a Sri Lankan in the final. K. Venkadadri in the under-12 division and Rohit Manivarma in the under-14 compound segment won a silver and bronze respectively to take the medals tally to five.
“Archers of our academy are regulars at the indoor meets and for the past four years we are sending them to help get used to alien conditions,” says J. Rama Rao, a senior coach.
Before leaving for Singapore, the academy archers helped Andhra Pradesh bag the silver medal in the compound final losing out to Jharkhand in the junior nationals at Assam. Archers are preparing for the senior nationals which are scheduled to be held at Jamshedpur from December 22 to 26.
