AAI makes qualifying rules sharper

After the completion the two FITA rounds in the first two days, 16 players from each category will make the grade to compete in the Olympic round the next day.

Generally the top eight archers qualify to represent the country. But this time around, they will be required to compete in two Olympic rounds on consecutive days to make the cut. Moreover, points of the individuals in this meet and the earlier senior nationals at Hyderabad will also come into play. The cumulative points of the two would be taken into consideration to make archers eligible for the third Olympic round, which will form basis for the actual selection.

“This is to ensure that we pick the most in-form players,” said coach Dharmender Tiwary.

But wasn’t that the case last time around too? “Yes it was, but what matters is the mental toughness of the archers on a windy day and the opposition,” added Tiwary.

Indian men finished 10th and the women came seventh in the first of the five Olympic qualifying rounds. Only Dola Banerjee reached the semi-final and finished 6th in the overall rankings, while Chekrovolu Swuro and Tarundeep Rai managed to reach the quarter finals and pre-quarters respectively. Swuro finished 9th overall while Rai was lowly placed at 21st.

In the team event, the women archers lost to Korea in the quarter finals while the men’s team went down to Mexico by one point in the first round.

But the players and coaches were unanimous in blaming the extreme weather condition for the debacle.

They claimed that after practicing in temperatures of 34 to 36 degrees in India, it was very difficult to acclimatise amid the freezing cold and strong winds in Ulsan.

The office bearers however refuse to buy this logic. “What they did at Ulsan was pathetic,” said Sanjeeb Singh, secretary of the AAI . “Blaming the weather condition for not performing and that too when you are competing at the highest level of the game is just not acceptable,” Singh added.

But despite the changes in selection process, the proceedings at the camp have been far from inspiring. Even ace archer Jayanta Talukdar’s presence in this tournament has not been able to lift the spirits. After a below-par performance in the last senior nationals at Hyderabad in January early this year, Talukdar skipped the National Games at Guwahati and the Ulsan World Cup due to a shoulder injury on his bow arm.

In the first competition in Pune after a five-month lay off, Talukdar has barely managed to get third or fourth place scores in the FITA rounds.

“But this has nothing to do with his injury,” said Tiwary. “Rest was all that was required for him to get back in shape and after almost a five-month break now, he is absolutely fine. Hope he will find his touch or rather mark as soon as possible,” he added.