World Championship and Olympics are the two stages Indian archers have rarely made an impact either individually or collectively. The only success being the men’s recurve team winning the silver medal at the 2005 Madrid Worlds.
The present Indian men’s recurve team, comprising Jayanta Talukdar, Rahul Banerjee and Mangal Singh Champia, has raised hopes of a good show considering the build-up to this most important fixture.
In the run-up to the 45th World outdoor target archery championship at Ulsan (South Korea) from September 1 to 9, the Indians did extremely well in World Cup events this year excepting the last one at Shanghai where it was a complete washout.
The 12-member team, four coaches and two support staff left on Saturday morning from here quietly confident of a memorable show.
Wake-up call
The confidence arises from the fact that the drubbing the teams got at Shanghai has given the team members a wake-up call. Since then the coaches spared no time in getting the teams back to peak level by rearranging the priority areas.
“Our failure at Shanghai was mainly owing to equipment problem,” admitted National coach Limba Ram. “Now everything is fine and I am very hopeful of the team performing to its potential,” the Olympian said.
Limba also admitted that competitions at Far-East countries do bring its own problem because “our archers do not relish the food available there.”
He added: “this time we tried to build their confidence level. We also undertook various mental-building exercises. The men have regained their composure and have been shooting some world-class scores in practice.”
Talukdar is ranked No. 1 in the World Cup ranking. Among women, Rimil Buriuly is outstanding and veteran Dola Banerjee is known to raise her game when needed.
Pratima has to chip in
Pratima Boro, the newest member, will have to overcome the big stage fear to support the other two.
The compound bow teams will have everything to gain in the tournament.
National champion Chinna Raju Srither is in fine fettle and the coach expects him to make a mark.
“We will be extremely happy if the compound archers make it to the quarterfinal stage,” he said.
The squad: Men: Recurve: Jayanta Talukdar, Rahul Banerjee (both Steel Plant) and Mangal Singh Champia (Railways).
Compound: C. Srither, Kh. Ratan Singh and Chungda Sherpa (all Services)
Women: Dola Banerjee (Railways), Rimil Buriuly and Pratima Boro (both Steel Plant). Compound: Jhano Hansdah, Manjudha Soy (both Jharkhand) and Sarikonda Jayalakshmi (Maharashtra).
Chief coach: Limba Ram (Rajasthan).
Coaches: Recurve: Dharmendra Tiwary (Steel Plant) and Lalrem Sanga (Mizoram); Compound: Richpal Singh (Punjab).
Analyst: Sashi Saraf (SAI).
Physiotherapist: Nita Kumari (SAI).
