Archery team express concern over wet ground condition

The 12-member Indian archery team is supposed to begin their training from Friday.

The Indian archery team on Thursday,expressed concern over the wet ground condition,at the Yamuna Sports Complex,the venue for the archery events for the upcoming Commonwealth Games.

The 12-member archery team,who were training at the Sports Authority of India (Eastern Centre),reached the Games village and were supposed to begin their training from Friday.

Coach Limba Ram said he was yet to see the venue personally,but pointed out he had heard about the wet patches at the venue.

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“It will be difficult,but we have to face the situation. The earlier we adjust to the condition,the better for us,” the national archery coach said.

The Archery Association of India (AAI) general secretary Paresh Nath Mukherjee,who visited the venue yesterday,said the turf has some rough and wet patches.

Archery will have two categories — recurve and compound — where 176 archers from 26 countries will vie for the 24 medals up for grabs.

India have the best chance in recurve section and Limba Ram said they stand a chance to get six of the eight gold medals.

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We are really high on confidence and hope for the top finishes in the men’s and women’s recurve sections. Compound is new to us,but I still hope we can at least clinch the team gold medals to make it a total of six,” Limba said.

Indian men’s recurve team won the team gold medal in the World Cup Stage IV held in Shanghai,while recently Jayanta Talukdar won the bronze medal in the World Cup finals held in Edinburgh.

The women’s side had won a silver medal in the World Cup Stage-III held in Ogden in the US.

The Squad: Men’s Recurve: Taurndeep Rai (Services),Jayanta Talukdar and Rahul Banerjee (both SPSB); Women’s Recurve: Dola Banerjee,L Bombayala Devi (both Railways) and Deepika Kumari (SPSB); Men’s Compound: C Srither,CH Jignas (both Services) and Ritul Chatterjee (Andhra Pradesh); Women’s Compound: Jhanu Hansda,Bheigyabati Chanu (Jharkhand) and Gagandeep Kaur (Punjab); Head coach: Limba Ram.