A different year and another Olympics, but for Indian archers the goal will be the same: win their first medal at the Games. A more or less regular at the Olympics since their debut in 1988, archers will kick off their national campaign in Paris here on Wednesday, with the qualifying rounds at Les Invalides gardens, here. For the first time after London 2012, India will have a full six-member squad after the men’s and women’s teams qualified based on rankings. This means they will compete in all five events.
Veterans Tarundeep Rai and Deepika Kumari, who are competing in their fourth Olympics, will lead their young teammates, hoping to secure at least a top-10 finish in the qualifying stage to secure a favorable draw.
Each archer will shoot 72 arrows and the qualifying round scores of 128 athletes from 53 countries will decide the seeds for the main knockout competition, starting with the women’s team final on Sunday.
The qualifying round will be crucial for the Indians, who have often slipped down the rankings and ended up losing to heavyweights Korea, tipped to top the qualifiers.
At the Tokyo Olympics, all men’s archers finished outside the top 30 and placed ninth as a team. Deepika, the only female archer there, also came ninth in the rankings. Both ended up losing to the top Koreans in their respective quarters.
As far as form is concerned, India will have high hopes for the men’s team, which won a historic World Cup this year in Shanghai, defeating Korea for the first time in a final.
They will have the experience of Rai and Tokyo Olympian Pravin Jadhav, while debutant Dhiraj Bommadevara will be on a roll after defeating Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Mauro Nespoli of Italy en route to bronze in Stage 3 of the World Cup of the World in Antalya, just a month ago. .
Individually, debutant Dhiraj is seen as a bright prospect as he tasted success by winning team silver at the Asian Games last year, albeit with different teammates.
Known for being “cool” in difficult situations, Dhiraj would try to overcome the bitter memories of the Hangzhou Asian Games where he botched his clearance twice to bow out in the individual quarters.
Deepika will fight against herself in an act of redemption.
All eyes would be on her, especially after her stunning comeback to win silver at the World Cup Stage 1 in Shanghai in April this year, less than 16 months after becoming a mother.
Last time in Tokyo, Korea’s An San was her nemesis as she became the gold medalist.
There is no An this time, but they have another Korean, Lim Si-hyeon, who defeated Deepika twice this year, including in the Shanghai World Cup final.
“If she keeps going, Deepika produces perfect 10s with ease. But at the same time, she suffers from inconsistency and makes silly mistakes at difficult times. If she overcomes her mental block, there is no stopping her,” said the director high performance company in India. Sanjeeva Singh said.
Dhiraj and Deepika, if they manage to reach the top of the qualifying rounds, would be an interesting prospect for the mixed recurve team.
Dhiraj’s composure and Deepika’s skills would complement each other well at the highest level.
The women’s team, on the other hand, will have little experience, except for Deepika.
Ankita Bhakat and Bhajan Kaur, who have been Indian regulars this Olympic cycle and won bronze in phase 4 of the World Cup here in 2023, are set to make their respective Games debuts.
Together they won bronze at the Asian Games last year and will look to draw inspiration from that.
Ankita, 26, originally from Bengal but representing the Tata Academy, is relatively more experienced, having won several team medals at the World Cup, including gold and silver, both in Paris in 2021 and 2022 respectively.
Controversial accumulation
Archers’ preparation for the Olympics was hampered by the return of foreign coach Baek Woong Ki to India after failing to obtain accreditation to enter the Games.
The South Korean, who has been signed by the Indian Archery Association for the Olympics on an annual contract worth around one million rupees, accompanied the team to the 10-day preparatory camp in Jaux.
But he had to return after the AAI failed to obtain an accreditation for him as the sporting body was involved in a blame game with the national federation (IOA).
While there is no Baek, India will have men’s and women’s team coaches in Sonam Singh Bhutia (Army) and Purnima Mahato (Tata), whose archers were part of the team.
In Baek’s absence, it remains to be seen how the Indians will deal with difficult times, especially when facing arch-enemy Korea in the qualifiers.
Bad luck in the quarter-finals
The Indian archers never managed to get past the quarter-final barrier.
The script has been the same all these years except Sydney 2000 where India failed to qualify for the Games.
In terms of cumulative performance, the best spectacle of all time was at the last Tokyo Olympics, where the Indian men’s team, the mixed team and Deepika individually, fell into oblivion in the quarter-finals.
India received selection quotas after topping the men’s and women’s rankings among non-qualifying nations in the Olympic cycle.
The men’s team finals will be on Monday, while the individual eliminations will begin on Tuesday.
The mixed team finals are scheduled for next Friday, followed by the women’s and individual finals on the same weekend.
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