Indian Archery and London 2012
In this article I want to throw light on Indian Archery. You’ll come to know how 2011 was for the Indian archers, how many players were able to make it to the London 2012 and how the remaining archers can qualify.
Target Set
Overall, 2011 was a satisfying year for the Indian Archers. After grabbing 1 silver and 2 bronze medals in the last year’s Asian games, the Indian Archers continued the good form into 2011 to make it a memorable year. The future of Indian archery, Deepika Kumari became the 2nd Indian woman after Dola Banerjee to win a medal at the World Championships. Deepika Kumari, who faltered to finish fourth in individual section at the Asian games in 2010, won the silver medal at the Archery World Cup Final at Istanbul Turkey in September. In the Archery World Cup Final, only the top 8 archers with the maximum points at the world stage were allowed to compete. Deepika Kumari, the lone Indian archer in both men’s and women’s sections, defeated some of the top archers of the world to enter the finals, but was a bit unlucky as she lost to the China’s in the tie breakers. Deepika, daughter of an autorickshaw driver, defeated Beijing Olympic bronze medalist Berengere Schuh of France in the semis by an outstanding margin of 6-0. Last year also she participated in the World cup finals at Edinburgh, but was unable to win a medal whereas Jayanta Talukdar won the bronze medal.
Indian archers who have qualified for London 2012
In July 2011 at the World Championships in Turin, India’s women recurve archers Deepika Kumari, Laishram Bombayla Devi and Chekrovolu Swuro clinched Olympic berths by defeating Denmark in the quarters. After grabbing the Olympic birth, the Indian trio also defeated the world champions Korea in the semis, but lost to Italy in the finals.
The Indian men lost by just one point to China and were unable to qualify for the Olympics 2012. But there was some good news in the men’s section as Jayanta Talukadar in the men’s individual recurve qualified for the Olympics. Seeded fifth in the elimination round, Talukdar got a bye to reach round three where he beat 28th ranked Antti Tekoniemi (Finland) 6-4, thus booking a London 2012 berth.
Asian Games 2010 silver medalist Tarundeep Rai lost to Athens Olympic gold medalist Marco Galiazzo of Italy, but not before giving a tough fight. Rai lost in the tie breaker when both the archers were tied at 5-5. In the tie breaker, both the archers shot a perfect 10, but as the bow of Italian archer was near to the centre point he was declared as the winner.
There is now only one last chance left for the Indian archers who have not qualified yet to make it to the London Olympics 2012, and that will be at Ogden, United States, next June. Possibly the men’s recurve team and some talented archers like Tarundeep Rai, Rahul Banerjee and Jignes Chittobama should also qualify for the mega event next year and also win a medal for their nation and make 1.2 billion people proud of their achievement.