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Dola, Pranitha make it to Beijing

Special Correspondent

KOLKATA: The Indian women’s archery team for the Beijing Olympic Games was finalised here on Sunday.

Laishram Bombayla Devi will be joined by a veteran in Dola Banerjee and rookie in V. Pranitha to spearhead the Indian challenge.

At the end of four days of trial, the 17-year-old Pranitha, originally from Parvathagiri village of Warangal district in Andhra Pradesh and now with the Tata Archery Academy at Jamshedpur, topped the trial with a total of 5,167 out of a possible 5,760 points.

Dola, who represented India at the Athens Olympics four years back, finished second in the trial scoring 5,141 points.

A string of superb performance in recent times enabled Bombayla to make the cut. Both Dola and Bombayla represent Railways.

It was really heartbreak for Reena Kumar of Railways. She made it to the Indian squad for the Games in May when trials were called for following the poor form of Chekrovolu, who along with Dola and Bombayla were named in the squad by the Archery Association of India (AAI).

When Dola hit bad form in recent World Cup meets, a section in the AAI bayed for her blood.

The four-day trial was called for and at the end of the day, Reena was the biggest loser. The three senior archers — Dola, Reena and Chekrovolu — were under tremendous pressure to outperform the juniors.

Finally, Dola could withstand the pressure and succeed, while Reena and Chekrovolu succumbed, thus failing to make what could be their final Olympic appearance.

The squad: Men: Mangal Singh Champia (Rly.) Women: L. Bombayla Devi, Dola Banerjee (both Rly.) and V. Pranitha (Steel Plant).

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