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Sport - Olympic Games

Will Indian archers be on target?

S. Sabanayakan

With better equipment, standards have been improving

— Photo: Sushanta Patronobish

AIMING HIGH: Mangal Singh Champia has been in great form and his recent training stint in South Korea should stand him in good stead in Beijing.

Can Indian archers produce a medal at the Beijing Olympic Games? Indian archery’s rise began in 2003 at the New York World championships where India booked six Olympic berths for the Athens Games — three men and as many women. Since then the trend has continued with Indian archers excelling in various international and World Cup meets.

By the time the Leipzig World Championship came around in July 2007, India was one of the countries tipped to do well. It, then was a shock indeed when only the women’s team qualified while the men failed, tripping in the first round of the team event.

Silver lining

When it looked India would have to go to Beijing without the men’s team, Mangal Singh Champia took a silver in the Asian Continental qualification at Xi’an in China to bring a bit of cheer.

With this three women — National champion Laishram Bombayla Devi and Dola Banerjee (both Railways) and Vardeneni Pranitha (Steel Plant) — made it to the Indian recurve team after a series of competition-cum-trials held over a period of time.

And Champia (Railways) was the lone man to represent India.

Traditionally, countries such as Korea, Italy, China, Japan, Australia, France and the United States dominate archery events at the Olympics.

The best Indian showing being Satyadev Prasad’s 10th and Reena Kumari’s 15th position finishes at Athens.

In this scenario, it would be imprudent to consider India as one of the front-runners for an Olympic medal. For the past one year since the Leipzig Worlds, the leading Indian archers have done well both as a team and as individuals but spasmodically.

The best among them being Dola’s gold medal at Dover in the fourth leg of the 2007 World Cup meets, and her triumph at the World Cup final at Dubai in November.

On the men’s side, the recurve team winning the Asian championship team gold after a gap of almost 18 years was certainly the highpoint. Champia’s individual bronze medal victory in the same championship was another highlight.

Tremendous form

In fact, Champia had been in tremendous form in the three World Cup meets he took part this year. He matched the best in terms of points in the qualification rounds even once missing the world record in the third leg at Antalya. Yet, his form and perseverance failed to win him a medal in any of the three in the individual knockout events.

In archery, like in other sporting events, better equipment and technique have contributed to improved standards. Consistency has been the watchword.

One hundred and eight to 110 points in the 12-arrow knockout round fetched gold medals at the Atlanta (1996) and Sydney (2000) Olympics. Athens saw a clear rise by a point or two.

All the medal-winning scores during the 2007 and 2008 have been 114 and beyond in the knockout rounds.

Some of the Indians may have touched 114 in international competition and even 116 in domestic meets.

Though, no Indian archer has shot 114 points round after round. All the leading Indian men archers can shoot 108 to 110 consistently but will flounder against an opponent who can take the score beyond 114. And there lies the answer to India’s chances of a medal.

“Going by the current form, Champia and Bombayla look to have the best chance,” said secretary-general P.N. Mukherjee.

Training tour

The two went on a training-cum-competition tour to South Korea for three weeks and seemed to have returned wiser and richer in experience.

“We used to fear the Koreans before. But the trip gave us ample opportunity to compete against them, and in some cases, beat them. This has certainly boosted our confidence,” Champia said.

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