Olympian Deepika did not get a place in the team, Atanu Das made a place in the team
Sonipat. Returning from maternity sabbatical, former world number one archer Deepika Kumari failed to make it to the Indian team for this year’s Asian Games, World Cup and World Championships here on Monday. A multiple gold medalist in the World Cup, Deepika failed to make it to the top eight in the three-day trial event for recurve archers held at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) center here.
She had finished seventh in the trials held in Kolkata last month. Reigning junior and former cadet world champion Komalika Bari and former national champion Ridhi Four also finished outside the top-eight in a day full of upsets. The top four ranked archers will get a place in the team while the fifth to eighth placed players will be considered if their performance dips.
Bhajan Kaur, Aditi Jaiswal, Ankita Bhakat and Simranjit Kaur have made it to the top four who will compete in all six major tournaments this year, including the Asian Games and the World Cup as well as the four World Championship events. In the men’s section, however, Dipika’s husband Atanu Das has made a comeback to the national team after a year. Atanu had failed in the trial last year. He last represented the country at the Tokyo Olympics. The archer, who represented the country twice in the Olympic Games, finished second behind Dheeraj B of the army. Experienced Tarundeep Rai and young Neeraj Chauhan rounded out the top four.
Tushar Shelke, Mrinal Chauhan, World Cup medalist Jayant Talukdar and Indrajit Swami were among the top eight finishers. Experienced Abhishek Verma could not find a place in the top four in the compound category, so he will not find a place in the first-choice team. The 33-year-old Verma, ranked fifth in the world, means he will not be able to make it to the first-choice team. Indian Archery’s High Performance Director Sanjeev Singh said that in case of archers in the top four not performing well, the names of archers between fifth and eighth positions will be considered. However, the doors of participation in the Olympics are not closed for Deepika. She can return to the team for Paris 2024 through the open trials to be held in January next year. Singh said, “The doors are not closed for her yet, she can take part in the open trials in January to return to the Olympics.”
Indian Team: (In order of ranking achieved in Trials) Recurve men: Bommadevra (SSCB), Atanu Das (PSPB), Tarundeep Rai (SSCB), Neeraj Chauhan (AIPSCB), Tushar Shelke (AIPSCB), Mrinal Chauhan (Jharkhand), Jayant Talukdar (Jharkhand), Indrachand Swami (Punjab). Recurve women: Bhajan Kaur (Haryana), Aditi Jaiswal (Bengal), Ankita Bhakat (Jharkhand), Simranjit Kaur (Punjab), Madhu Vedwan (RSPB), Sangeeta (Haryana), Tanisha Verma (Punjab), Prachi Singh (Rajasthan). Compound Men: Prathamesh Javkar (Maharashtra), Rajat Chauhan (Rajasthan), Ojas Deotale (Maharashtra), Rishabh Yadav (Haryana), Abhishek Verma (Delhi), Amit (SSCB), Harsh Borade (Maharashtra), Kushal Dalal (Haryana). Compound Women: Avneet Kaur (Punjab), Jyoti Surekha Vennam, Aditi Swamy (Maharashtra), Sakshi Chowdhary (Uttar Pradesh), Pragathi (Delhi), Ragini Marko (Madhya Pradesh), Preneet Kaur (Punjab), Taniparthi Chikitha (Telangana).
