The introduction of the mixed team competition at the 2018 Asian Games has robbed compound archery of two events. But the loss of the individual men’s and women’s compound events is also India’s loss — the country has consistently done well in the format.
At the 2014 Incheon Games, all of India’s archery medals came in the four compound events — Abhishek Verma won silver in the men’s individual event, Trisha Deb took bronze in the women’s, the men’s team won gold while the women’s team won bronze.
In Jakarta this year, the GBK Archery Field will host men’s, women’s and mixed team events for both recurve and compound. But only the former, which is a part of the Olympics, will have the two individual events. For India, Verma and Rajat Chauhan, who were part of the gold medal-winning men’s team in 2014, form a strong unit along with Aman Saini and Sangampreet Singh Bisla, while the women’s compound team is ranked No.1 in the world, featuring the experienced Deb and V. Jyothi Surekha — both members of the 2014 bronze-winning team — and the up-and-coming Muskan Kirar and Madhumita Kumari. The mixed compound team of Verma and Surekha in July won the bronze medal at the World Cup Stage 4 in Berlin and should fancy its chances at the Asiad.
Among the recurve archers, Deepika Kumari struck gold after six years in July at the World Cup Stage 3 in Salt Lake City. She’ll team up with Laxmirani Majhi, Asia Cup gold medallist Promila Daimary and world junior gold medallist Ankita Bhagat. As for the men, Atanu Das is in fine form and the seasoned Vishwas has made a comeback. Sukhchain Singh and Jagdish Choudhary round off the men’s team.
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