Leading compound archer Abhishek Verma, who was part of the men’s team that bagged the Asian Games silver medal in Jakarta, is not sure about his preparation for the prestigious World Cup Finals in Samsun, Turkey, on September 29 and 30.
So far, World No. 5 Verma has had a fabulous 2018 in which he has bagged medals – a total of one silver and four bronze medals – in four legs of the World Cup to qualify for the World Cup Finals.
Three Indians, including recurve archer Deepika Kumari and compound archer V. Jyoti Surekha (who has qualified as part of the compound mixed team with Verma), will compete in the Turkey event.
While Deepika will stay on in the Sports Ministry’s Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) till 2020, Verma and Jyoti – who were part of the TOPS list until the Asian Games – are set to be dropped from the list.
“So far, there is no schedule (about our training for the World Cup Finals). We don’t know whether any camp will be held,” Verma told Sportstar on Wednesday.
The compound archers met Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and other top officials of the ministry on Tuesday to apprise them of the situation.
“Rathore Sir said since compound is not part of the Olympics it cannot be part of TOPS (after Asiad). However, he assured to do something about it,” said Verma.
Verma, who won an individual silver medal and a team gold in the 2014 Asian Games, said compound archery needed more attention.
“In the next Asian Games, compound will get back its individual competitions. Also, compound archery may feature in the Olympics in 2024, maybe as a demo event,” he said.
On personal front, the 29-year-old Arjuna award winning Delhi archer, who has been working as an inspector in the Income Tax department since 2013, hoped that his consistent performance would fetch him a deserving promotion.
“There is a scheme under which medal winning sportspersons get promotions. Hope, this year my performances are noticed by the right people,” said Asian No. 2-ranked Verma.
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