Indian archers' look for recurve glory in Germany World Meet

Kolkata, July 3 (UNI) A twelve-member Indian archery team today left for Germany with the expectations of cornering glory in the 44th World Championship, commencing in Leipzig from July seven, and in the process secure an Olympic berth.

India's recurve archery teams will, however, be under pressure to live up to their expectations.

India is one of the favourites in the recurve bow event in the world after successive positive results in the last two World Meets.

In the 2003 World Championship in New York, the men's team finished fourth, while the women took the sixth place and secured a berth in 2004 Athens Olympics.

In the next edition in Madrid, Spain, India had a dream run with its men winning the silver medal and the women narrowly missing the bronze. In the individual championships, India's Tarundeep Rai missed the bronze by a whisker.

And now in Leipzig India is expected to retain its position at least, if not better it. And also at stake for the Indian archers will be the quota places for the Beijing Olympics.

Since their remarkable showing in Madrid, the Indian archers have not found any great success. Jayanta has been the only exception and his title triumph at the Porec World Cup in Croatia reinforced the belief that Indian archery was moving up and in the right direction.

And after 60 days' gruelling training sessions and participation in three ranking tournaments its an upbeat Indian team that board the flight today for Germany enroute Delhi.

''Our main focus is to get Olympics berth both in the team and individual events. If this target is achieved we can plan over the next two years for Beijing Olympics in a big way,'' Archery Association of India Vice-President and technical committee chairman Paresh Nath Mukherjee, who is set to join the team in Germany, told UNI today.

The 12-member Indian team comprises half a dozen archers each in recurve and compound category.

Asked if India would better its position in the recurve category this time round, Mukherjee said, ''I cannot say that our prospects are better than what it was in the last two events. We are as good as we were in 2003 and 2005. We have practised hard. The archers participated in three ranking meets in the last six months. Our team is a fine blend of youth and experience. We have to maintain the level of performance and then only can we hope for a good result.'' The 84-team meet that would see around 650 archers vying for glory is the biggest world championship ever. The Indian team would be up against the traditional powerhouses like Australia and United States besides Asian rivals like Korea, China, Chinese Taipei and Japan.

''Among the Asian competitors, Korea are world beaters. But we are at par with the other three Asian countries. But in the present system of 24-arrow competition, one poor shot can ruin the whole process. Winning a medal depends equally on performance and luck,'' he said.

In the men's department, the seasoned Tarundeep Rai would accompany 21-year old promising Rahul Banerjee and comeback man Somai Murmu.

''While Rahul and Tarundeep have been consistant, Somai has made a comeback after seven years and is in prime touch. He could emerge as the ace,'' Mr Mukherjee said.

''If I can maintain this level of performance, then I can hope to do well,'' said Rahul, whose performance is the best in recent times.

In the womens' meet, seasoned campaigners Dola Banerjee and Chekrovolu Swuro have a young colleague in the upcoming L Bombayla Devi.

India's top woman archer Dola Banerjee is of the view that other countries take India very seriously. ''A few years ago we were under no pressure to perform and went all out to beat higher ranked teams.

Now every country is wary of India. We need to handle this additional pressure well,''she said.

She also felt that a few changes in rules in the team and individual Olympic rounds have made life more testing for the archers. Previously a team was allowed to shoot 27 arrows; now it gets only 24! Earlier, in the individual Olympic round preliminary stages, an archer was allowed to shoot 18 arrows and in the later stages 12 arrows. Now this has been standardised to 12 arrows throughout. ''The changes made in 2006 did hit us hard. One bad shot is enough to put you out of a contest. One has to be very consistent to survive,'' she said.

The compound bow event holds no such promise. Introduced in India in 2001 it will take fedw more years before taking full flight.

Indian squad for the World meet: Recurve: Men: 1. Rahul Banerjee (SPSB), 2. Tarundeep Rai, 3. Somai Murmu (both Services).

Women: 1. Dola Banerjee (Rly), 2. Chekrovolu Swuro (Nag), 3. L.

Bombayla Devi (Rly).

Compound: Men: 1. Jayantilal Nanoma (Raj), 2. Ch. Lenin (AP), Chungda Sherpa (Ser).

Women: 1. Jhano Hansdah, 2. Bheigyabati Chanu (both Jhrkhand). 3.

Sumanlata Murmu (Jharkhand).

UNI