Olympian Atanu Das, who was dropped from the Indian team last year, made a spectacular comeback by finishing second in the Archery Open Selection Trials that concluded at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) Complex here on Tuesday. The trials were conducted for the four editions of the World Cup, the World Championships and the Asian Games to be held later this year. Das finished second behind Dheeraj B of the Army while the experienced Jayant Talukdar and Parth Salunke were among the top four players in the seven-day trials.
It was a double delight for Das as his wife Deepika Kumari made a comeback in the top eight almost a month after giving birth to their daughter. Deepika also made a comeback in this way. He did not get a place in the Indian team in last year’s trials. After India’s dismal performance in the first two editions of the World Cup, however, Deepika was included in the squad for the third edition in Paris.
The Indian team had won the silver medal in this stage. Das told PTI, “It is a big relief for us. We worked hard and overcame many personal challenges. I am really happy for Deepika who was struggling a lot. She was unable to stand and was still aiming despite the pain in her back. I am proud of him.
The top eight players here will attend a 20-day camp at SAI Sonepat where the second round of selection trials will begin from February 17 to select the top four players to represent India. Following is the list of players who finished in the top eight in their categories in the Kolkata stage. Recurve Men: 1 Dheeraj B, 2 Atanu Das, 3 Jayant Talukdar, 4 Partha Salunke, 5 Sukhchain Singh, 6 Neeraj Chauhan, 7 Shukmani Babrekar, 8 Tarundeep Rai.
Recurve Women: 1 Ankita Bhakt, 2 Simranjit Kaur, 3 Bhajan Kaur, 4 Prachi Singh, 5 Madhu Vedwan, 6 Sangeeta, 7 Deepika Kumari, 8 Riddhi Four. Combined Men: 1 Abhishek Verma, 2 Rajat Chauhan, 3 Prathamesh Phuge, 4 Rishabh Yadav, 5 Amit, 6 Ojas Deotale, 7 Kushal Dalal, 8 Prathamesh Javkar. Combined Women: 1 Jyoti Surekha Vennam, 2 Preneet Kaur, 3 Aditi Swami, 4 Pragathi, 5 Sakshi Chowdhary, 6 Muskaan Kirar, 7 Srishti Singh, 8 Aishwarya Sharma.
