India has a bright future in compound, says Archery high performance director Sanjeeva

Indian Archery’s high performance director Sanjeeva Singh was thrilled to see the progress of compound archery in the last two decades.

Aditi Swami, Parneet Kaur and Jyothi Surekha Vennam of the compound women’s along with the high performance director Sanjeeva Singh (third from left), coach Surinder Singh and head coach Sergio Pagni after India’s first-ever gold medal in World Archery Championships 2023. | Photo Credit: PTI

As the Indian compound women archers won a historic gold medal in the team event of the World Archery Championships in Berlin on Friday and hoped to secure more medals in individual events on Saturday, high performance director Sanjeeva Singh said the special achievement would spur youngsters to take to compound archery.

Sanjeeva was thrilled to see the progress of compound archery in the last two decades. “When I started compound archery (in India), after seeing it in the World championship in New York in 2003, everyone laughed at me. They thought when we had not made a mark in the recurve, what was the use of introducing the compound in the country,” said Sanjeeva.

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“I saw potential in it as archers who could not take to recurve could switch to compound. It was good for people of shorter height (as the bow draw length was fixed unlike in recurve). During my stint in the tribal belt, I noticed that most of them were of shorter height and compound would suit them. Also, it was good for those who wanted to pursue studies. Only two hours of training a day is enough (as against eight hours of training required for recurve),” said Saneejva.

He underlined that Indian archers beat two strong countries Colombia and Mexico on their way to claim the World women’s team title and four out of 16 quarterfinalists (in men and women) were Indians.

Sanjeeva said if compound archery made its debut in the 2028 Los Angeles Games, then India would have a great chance of landing a medal. “It will see a boom in the coming years as there is an outside chance of the compound getting introduced in the 2028 Olympics as an indoor sport.

“Today, we can see a greater number of compound archers. It is growing in every part of the country. We will surely win an Olympic gold in compound if it’s included in the Games,” said Sanjeeva.