Archery women’s team’s Paris problem

Express News Service

BENGALURU : The second wave of Covid-19 in the country has also hit Indian athletes aiming to book their Tokyo Olympic tickets. With the quadrennial event less than 100 days away, the India women’s archery team can still qualify as a squad, with the World Cup Stage 3 in Paris a lifeline. But, the question remains if they would even be able to head to the European nation. It could all depend on the pandemic situation. As of now, several countries have implemented travel restriction from India, with France being one of them. There is a mandatory ten-day quarantine for Indian travellers in France. Interestingly, India has an air bubble arrangement with many nations including France.

If the situation worsens and the archers are not able to feature in Paris, it would mean Deepika Kumari will be the lone woman representative from India in Tokyo. The Archery Association of India (AAI) president Arjun Munda wants to take a collective decision on a later date, but wants all his archers to continue with the preparation for the Olympics as well as the trials.

“Stating that there is a ban or something, we cannot take a decision on the future right now. In the coming days, we also have to see if the flight continues or it resumes. In the meantime, I can assure you that the archers will continue with their full preparations for the Olympic and the trials that they have to go,” said Munda.

Irrespective of what happens, the situation is better in the men’s arena with Atanu Das, Tarundeep Rai and Pravin Jadhav set to feature in Tokyo. In fact, recently India came up with a strong showing in the Archery World Cup Stage 1 in Guatemala as Atanu and Deepika won gold in their respective individual categories. Besides, Deepika, Ankita Bhakat and Komalika Bari won the team gold in the women’s competition. The mixed team also finished with bronze. After returning home with three gold and a bronze, the archers were felicitated in an online program on Saturday.

IOA president Narinder Batra, SAI director general Sandip Pradhan and Munda also graced the occasion. “I think this world cup stage 1 started in 2006 and it is the first time that India has won three gold and one bronze,” said Batra. “We hope for medals from archery in Olympics… all the best to the athletes, who won medals (in stage 1).”