Deepika, Bombayla, Laxmirani get Rio tickets

Deepika Kumari, Bombayla Devi and Laxmirani Majhi made it to the Indian women’s archery team for the Rio Olympics. The women’s team had earned three individual spots and the team spot by virtue of their performance at the World Championships in Copenhagen in 2015.

Deepika Kumari, Bombayla Devi and Laxmirani Majhi will represent India at the Rio Olympics.

After a six-stage selection trial, Deepika Kumari, Bombayla Devi and Laxmirani Majhi have made it to the Indian women’s archery team for the Rio Olympics. It is the same team which won the silver medal in the recently concluded Archery World Cup in China.

The women’s team had already earned three individual spots and a team spot by virtue of its performance at the World Championships in Copenhagen in 2015. Rimil Buruily, who was part of the silver medal-winning women’s team last year, misses the cut.

The archers had to go through a qualifying round after which the top eight archers were selected for round-robin competitions. After a series of round-robin competitions, the sixth and final selection trial had four archers vying for the three available spots. Deepika, Bombayla and Majhi finally made the cut.

The Archery Association of India also announced a three-member men’s team comprising Jayanta Talukdar, Atanu Das and Mangal Singh Champia, which will compete at the World Cup (Stage III) in June in Antalya, Turkey to qualify for the Olympics. The men’s team had managed to grab only one berth last year. "The competition was fierce in the men's trials. We made them compete in an environment that is similar to Rio. They competed on raised platforms and were very competitive," Anil Kamineni, secretary general of Archery Association of India, said.

In the event the men’s team fails to qualify, the AAI will conduct another selection trial to pick one archer from the three.

During the four-month long selection trials and training, the top six men and women archers participated in Kahamran Bagatir Sping Arrow Tournament in Antalya and also had match practice with several other European nations. The top four men and women archers then participated in the World Cup (Stage 1) in Shanghai, China. The archers had rigorous training camps in Jamshedpur (January-February) and Delhi (March-April) before heading to the SAI Centre in Bengaluru for the final selection trial.

Both the women’s and men’s team will compete at the World Cup (Stage III) in June, where Rimil Buruily (women) and Rahul Banerjee (men) will join the team.

India squad

Women’s Team (for World Cup and Olympics): Deepika Kumari, Bombayla Devi, Laxmirani Majhi.

Men’s Team (for World Cup): Jayanta Talukdar, Atanu Das, Mangal Singh Champia.