Despite trying year after year, recurve archer Bulbul Marandi found that he was not good enough to get into the strong Jharkhand team.
This time, however, he got a berth for the National Games. And on Friday evening, the 28-year-old made his Games’ debut a very memorable one when he jolted Olympian Jayanta Talukdar 6-4 and entered the men’s individual recurve archery semifinal at the Nehru Stadium here.
“I had worked hard for last 14 years, waiting for this day. Jayanta and I had trained together for years, had even been roommates many times, but I could never beat him in a major championship,” said Bulbul after defeating the former multiple World Cup gold medallist in one of the biggest upsets of the Games archery competition.
And his winning secret: to stay aloof.
“I know his weaknesses because I’ve trained with Jayanta for years. He is a jovial kind of guy, even during competitions. I wanted to stay focused, so I kept a distance. That strategy clicked,” said Bulbul.
Tarundeep in last fourMeanwhile, other Olympians, Tarundeep Rai in the men’s section and Deepika Kumari in women’s along with international Laxmirani Majhi entered the recurve semifinals.
Both the National champions, Rajasthan’s Vakil Raj Dindor — who had won his maiden title in New Delhi in October — and Manipur’s L. Bombayla Devi had crashed out earlier.
The results (quarterfinals):Recurve, individual:
Men: Bulbul Marandi (Jha) bt Jayanta Talukdar (Jha) 6-4, Besra Gurucharan (Ser) bt K. Harish Chand (MP) 5-5 (tiebreaker 10-7), Tarundeep Rai (Ser) bt Basumatary Dhaniram (Asm) 7-3; Dheeraj Dheeraj (Del) bt Boro Sanjay (Asm) 6-4.
Women: Seema Verma (Raj) bt Madhu Vedwan (Pun) 6-2, S. Satbir Kaur (Asm) bt Belsri Narzary (Asm) 7-3, Laxmi Rani Majhi (Jha) bt Rupal Dhama (UP) 6-1; Deepika Kumari (Jha) bt Rimil Buriuly (Jha) 7-3.
