The Hindu : Sport / Archery : Talukdar, Banerjee shine

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Monday, Mar 03, 2008
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Talukdar, Banerjee shine

Special Correspondent

KOLKATA: The preparation of the Indian archery team for the Beijing Olympic Games began on right note at the SAI, Eastern Centre, on Sunday, with eight top recurve bow archers of the country along with compound bow archers engaging themselves to book berths in the Indian squad for the upcoming two Meteksan World Cups next month.

At the end of the first day of the two-day trials, familiar names hogged the limelight with Jayanta Talukdar and Rahul Banerjee, both of Steel Plant, taking an early lead at the half way mark with 1338 points each in the men’s recurve section. Mangal Singh Champia of Railways, who has booked a berth for the Olympics was third with 1334 while former National champion Harish Chand Kerai of Services was fourth with 1323.

National women’s champion Laishram Bombayla Devi continued her form to be among the first in the eight-women recurve field with a total of 1312 points. Two youngsters, Rosie Lalrem and V. Pranitha, both of Steel Plant, stood second and fourth respectively with 1291 and 1275 while veteran Dola Banerjee was third with 1297.

Thirty-two archers in both men’s and women’s recurve and compound categories, as per the standing in the 28th senior National meet held at Jamshedpur, lined up for 16 berths for the two World Cups, the first of the four slated for Santo Domingo in Dominican Republic from April 1 to 5 and the second at Porec in Croatia from April 15 to 19.

Isiah R. Sanam of Andhra Pradesh and a pilot by profession, led the men’s compound with a total of 1366 points while veteran Jhano Hansdah of Jharkhand led the women’s category with 1357.

Meanwhile, the Archery Association of India (AAI) has engaged a top Korean coach, Lee Wang Woo, to train the Indians for the upcoming Olympics. Lee, 52, was a renowned player and coach having trained the senior Korean National team from 1987 to 2000 in which he covered four Olympics. Thereafter, Lee trained the Korean National junior team for four years till 2004.“Indian archers definitely have the ability to win an Olympic medal. They need to be consistent especially under pressure,” he said.

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