The Hindu : Sport / Archery : Indian squad leaves for Italy

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Tuesday, Apr 27, 2004

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Sport - Archery

Indian squad leaves for Italy

By Our Special Correspondent

KOLKATA, APRIL 26. Indian archers, in search of their first Olympic medal, will face the first acid test in the first European Grand Prix at Rovoroto in Italy, some 200 kilometres from Milan, from April 29 to May 1. A 14-member Indian contingent left for Italy on Monday.

Fine-tuned to reach world standards for the past one and a half years, and with good showing at the New York World championship and at the Yangon Asian championship last year, Indian archers have come a long way. The Archery Association of India (AAI) has decided to send the squad to two more GPs — in Germany (June 14-20) and Turkey (July 13-17) — before the Athens Olympics.

The Italian GP has attracted 30 countries among which India is the lone Asian country as per the information reaching Kolkata. The AAI senior vice-president, Paresh Nath Mukherjee, who is leading the contingent, feels two Asian powerhouses, Japan and Chinese Taipei, will also be participating. There has been no news from World champion Korea and China, the other two Asian giants in the sport.

"Winning medals in such an important event, where the best of archers from the world over are taking part, will give us an idea where the Indian archers stand during the run-up to the Olympic Games,'' said Mr. Mukherjee. "This will indeed be Indian archery's acid test. The Indian archers are going to match their skill against the best in business.''

Are the Indian archers ready for this Test? "Of course, they are. The Korean coach Chae Hong Gig has been working with the archers for quite some time and now the AAI has enlisted another world-class coach in Ivan Yotov Ivanov of Bulgaria. Dr. (Mrs.) Alison Rohtius, a renowned sports psychologist from the United States, has joined the team since late last year. We have left no stone unturned and now the time has come for the Indian archers to deliver the goods,'' asserted Mr. Mukherjee.

The hopes, of course, will be more on the male archers. The dropping out of the women's National champion Sumangla Sharma, owing to technical reasons, would adversely affect the team's prospect. Her replacement, Chekrovolu Swuro, ranked fifth, is an experienced campaigner having helped India earn three berths from the world meet.

The top three men, Prasad, Rai and Sawayan, have been churning out some fabulous scores regularly in the last three National ranking circuit meets.

Satyadev Prasad and Tarundeep Rai have not dipped below 160 even once in the 18-arrow elimination with 170 being their highest. Sawayan hit 159 only once in a string of 160 plus scores. In the 12-arrow elimination, these three have been shooting in excess of 105 with Prasad and Sawayan's highest being 114 and Rai's top score being 117.

Apart from Sumangla, only Dola looked a class apart with her performance. According to Mr. Mukherjee, Indian women stand little chance of figuring in the medal bracket owing to inconsistent showing. "Our women need to raise the bar considerably to stand a chance of being at the busy end. I keep my fingers crossed,'' he says.

Manjudha Soy is not only a junior but also figure for the first time in a senior side. The hopes, obviously, will be pinned on Dola, Reena and probably Chekrovolu.

The squad:

Men: Satyadev Prasad (ITBP), Tarundeep Rai, Mahji Sawayan, Harish Chand Kerai, Viswash (all ASI) and Mukesh Khillare (Maharashtra).

Women: Dola Banerjee, Reena Kumari, Manjudha Soy (all Jharkhand) and Chekrovolu Swuro (Nagaland).

Officials: Captain: P.N. Mukherjee; Coches: Chae Hong Gig (Korea) and Ivan Yotov Ivanov (Bulgaria); Psychologist: Mrs. Alison Rohdius.

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