Kolkata, Jun 15:
Olympians Mangal Singh Champia and Jayanta Talukdar today failed to make the cut even as Army archer Vishwas today made a comeback in the 16-member Indian archery squad for the Asian Games.
The same squad will compete in the stage four of the World Cup to be held in Berlin from July 16-22 ahead of the Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang from August 18 to September 2.
Vishwas, who hails from Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh, was part of India’s Asian Games bronze medal winning team in Doha 2006 and last represented the country at the stage two World Cup in Antalya in June last year.
India returned empty-handed in the recurve section of the Incheon Asian Games in 2014 and all eyes would be on Olympian Atanu Das, who topped the two-day selection trial held at the Army Sports Institute in Pune today.
Rio Olympian Das is the only non-Army archer in the four-member squad as ASI dominated the men’s recurve selection trial with youngsters Sukchain Singh and Jagdish Choudhary finishing ahead of Talukdar and Champia.
2010 Asian Games silver medalist Tarundeep Rai skipped the trial.
Former world number one Deepika Kumari also made the cut but finished second to Assamese archer Promila Daimary in the women’s recurve section.
The out-of-form recurve archers will look to bring back their lost glory with Das and Deepika spearheading the challenge in recurve, where five golds are up for grabs.
There was no surprise in store in the compound section where Abhishek Verma, who won a team gold and individual silver in Incheon, topped the trial held in SAI Sonipat.
Bengal’s Trisha Deb, who won a team and individual bronze in Incheon, will spearhead the women’s compound section in the company of Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Muskan Kiran and Madhumita Kumari.
While mixed pair event will make debut at the Indonesia Asian Games in August, the compound section will not feature in individual events, reducing it to a race for three gold medals.
Teams:
Recurve (Men’s): Atanu Das (PSPB), Sukchain Singh, Vishwas, Jagdish Choudhary (all SSCB).
(Women’s): Promila Daimary (Assam), Deepika Kumari, Ankita Bhakat (both Jharkhand), Laxmirani Majhi (RSPB).
Compound (Men’s): Abhishek Verma (Delhi), Aman Saini (both Delhi), Rajat Chauhan (Rajasthan), Sangamprit Bisla (Punjab).
(Women’s): Muskan Kiran (MP), Jyothi Surekha Vennam (AP), Trisha Deb (Bengal), Madhumita Kumari (Jharkhand). (PTI)
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