Deepika Kumari fails to make India’s Asian Games, Worlds Archery squads; Atanu Das returns
February 21, 2023
B.Dhiraj and Bhajan Kaur emerged as the best recurve men and women archers after the completion of double-phased selection trials that ended at Sonepat on Monday.
Olympians Atanu Das, who could not make it to the Indian team last year, and Tarundeep Rai and Neeraj Chauhan were inside the top-four brackets.
Aditi Jaiswal, Ankita Bhakat and Simranjit Kaur completed the best-four lineup in the women’s section.
The elite four were ranked after a final round robin league performance on Monday.
Olympian Jayanta Talukdar finished seventh, while talented Parth Salunkhe was ninth.
Ace woman archer Deepika Kumari, who gave birth to a baby girl early December, competed in the first phase of the trials here in January to make it to the top 16 despite not being in top shape. She took the ninth spot.
As per this year’s selection policy – which followed a complex and long-drawn procedure and considered archers’ consistency and one-on-one shooting skills among several parameters and awarded bonus and penalty points – best four archers in each category were chosen to compete in all the events, including Asian championships, Asian Games and World championships, in the calendar.
In case there is a drop in performance by any archer, then the Archery Association of India (AAI) will hold a retrial involving the underperforming athlete and reserve archers to find a replacement.
In the compound division, Prathmesh Jawkar and Avneet Kaur claimed the No.1 slots. Seasoned archers Rajat Chauhan and V. Jyothi Surekha got second spots. Abhishek Verma was fifth.
Squads
Indian Teams Recure Men: 1 Bommadevara (SSCB), 2 Atanu Das (PSPB), 3 Tarundeep Rai (SSCB), 4 Neeraj Chauhan (AIPSCB), 5 Tushar Shelke (AIPSCB), 6 Mrinal Chauhan (Jharkhand), 7 Jayanta Talukdar (Jharkhand), 8 Indrachand Swami (Punjab).
Recurve Women: 1 Bhajan Kaur (Haryana), 2 Aditi Jaiswal (Bengal), 3 Ankita Bhakat (Jharkhand), 4 Simranjeet Kaur (Punjab), 5 Madhu Vedwan (RSPB), 6 Sangeeta (Haryana), 7 Tanisha Verma (Punjab), 8 Prachi Singh (Rajasthan).
Compound Men: 1 Prathamesh Jawkar (Maharashtra), 2 Rajat Chauhan (Rajasthan), 3 Ojas Deotale (Maharashtra), 4 Rishabh Yadav (Haryana), 5 Abhishek Verma (Delhi), 6 Amit (SSCB), 7 Harsh Borate (Maharashtra), 8 Kushal Dalal (Haryana).
Compound Women: 1 Avneet Kaur (Punjab), 2 Jyothi Surekha Vennam, 3 Aditi SWami (Maharahstra), 4 Sakshi Chaudhary (UP), 5 Pragati (Delhi), 6 Raginee Marko (MP), 7 Parneet Kaur (Punjab), 8 Taniparthi Chikitha (Telengana).
