Tokyo Olympics: It's now or never for Indian archery
The Tokyo Olympics is undoubtedly going to be the talk of the town for the next two months. As such, many sports will be in the limelight, including athletics, archery, and shooting, to name a few.
However, in archery, the Tokyo Olympics is a matter of now or never for India, where the sport has been a curious case. Nobody has understood till date how a country, with a wide history of renowned archers, has not won a single Olympic medal to date.
They have been ranked as high as No. 1 and have won several medals at the World Championships. However, when it comes to the Olympics, Indian archers develop cold feet.
The archers surprisingly choke when they need their talent to deliver the most. What other reason could be there that archers like Deepika Kumari and Atanu Das, who could otherwise win the gold medals with ease, don't even make it to the final eight?
India has been a part of every archery event at the Olympics since the Seoul Olympics of 1988. However, the recurve archers have mostly cut a sorry figure.
Except for Satyadev Prasad and Atanu Das, the latter having qualified for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics, none of the male archers made it beyond the pre-quarterfinals to date. The women's team have fared slightly better in this regard, making it to the quarterfinals of the team event more than once. However, they have failed to progress beyond the final eight.
Unfortunately, compound archery is not an Olympic sport. Otherwise, the situation wouldn't look bad in comparison to the recurve archers.
As such, the Tokyo Olympics is the last chance for the recurve archers from India to shed their 'chokers' label. They are capable of giving even the best a run for their money, and it isn't tough for Team India to make it count.
The following Indians have qualified for the archery segment of the Tokyo Olympics as of now:
1) Atanu Das - Men's Individual Recurve, Men's Team, and Mixed Team
2) Pravin Ramesh Jadhav - Men's Individual Recurve and Men's Team
3) Tarundeep Rai - Men's Individual Recurve and Men's Team
4) Deepika Kumari Das - Women's Individual Recurve and Mixed Team