JUST when it seemed that Jharkhand was going to complete its expected golden sweep, Punjab's Vishal Kumar snatched away the men's individual title, the last to be decided in the National Games archery event, and somewhat spoiled the party of this newly-formed state.
Not a single National record was bettered in the four-day event at Patiala and that spoke of the present state of Indian archery. On the brighter side, the introduction of the Indian Round in these Games, helped in projecting the prospective champions of the future.
Had the Archery Association of India (AAI) not decided to do away with the four distance events in each section, Jharkhand's tally would have been much more.
Jharkhand, represented by the select band of archers from the Jamshedpur-based Tata Academy, swept the team titles without facing any real challenge. In the individual events, the women from the state ended all the challenge in the quarterfinals itself and duly monopolised the semifinal slots.
However, the complete sweep of golds for Jharkhand was denied by Vishal, who continued his amazing run and accounted for many big names to capture his first senior title.
Ranked 16th after the FITA Round, Vishal, who works as an electrician at Patiala, delighted his friends and supporters by getting the better of Jharkhand's Harish Kerai 102-99 in the final. In the competition where both archers are allowed to fire 12 arrows at the target placed at 70 metres, Vishal looked a bit dejected as he could manage just five on his last attempt. But soon the smile returned to Vishal's face as Kerai, needing a perfect '10' to tie the scores, managed just seven.
The victory triggered off fire-crackers even as Vishal's friends carried him on their shoulders and broke spontaneously into 'bhangra' steps.
Vishal, a twice National junior champion, had beaten two of the leading archers from the Meerut-based Gurukul, Vishwas and Kailash, before getting the better of Kerai, who has been part of the Indian team on many occasions.
Sadly, a jobless Limba Ram, one of the recognised faces in archery, could not get past the pre-quarterfinal stage, losing 153-162 to Kailash.
However, the scores on the final day were very pedestrian. One can blame the windy conditions at Patiala's polo ground for the medicore scores, but then, it also reflected on the lack of expertise among the Indians to perform in trying conditions.
Among the women, the Dimapur-born Chekrovolu Swuro retained the gold won at Imphal in 1999, with ease. The 99-90 victory over Jharkhand teammate Kezie Gunno underlined Chekrovolu's domination at the domestic level. Dola Banerjee, one of the favourites, who fell to Kezie in the semifinal, claimed the bronze by beating Jhanu Hansda.
In the team events, too, Jharkhand made it easily. The Jharkhand men finally managed to overpower surprise finalist Delhi before the women easily captured the gold at the expense of the once-formidable Manipur.
Truly, the Delhi archers were the revelations of the event. For the eighth-seeded Delhi, Firoz Khan, Lokesh Chand, Avdesh Kumar and Hari Babu shot wonderfully well. Delhi went on to topple top-seed Uttar Pradesh in the quarterfinals and Orissa for a place in the final. In fact, Delhi's score of 238, against UP's 224, was the highest of the competition.
Earlier, Delhi's trio of Ravinder Sharma, Radhey Shyam and Dinesh had claimed the gold in the Indian Round, ahead of Assam and Bengal.
The rest of the results in the Indian Round, where the archers use bamboo-made equipments, came on expected lines. Services' Ranbahadur Tamang and Manipur's L. Suni Devi claimed the individual honours. The women's team championship, too, was claimed by Manipur.
Overall, the domination of the Jharkhand archers was there for everyone to see. These select archers from the north-east region, apart from some from the tribal belt of southern Bihar (now Jharkhand), will continue to hold sway unless the Sports Authority of India (SAI) finds funds to support the other archers in its schemes. With the patronage of Tata, Jharkhand's archers have the advantage of having the best equipment available in the country. Therefore, Jharkhand's rich haul did not come as a surprise.
The results:Individual: Men (final): Vishal Kumar (Pun) bt Harish Kerai (Jha) 102-99; (for third place): Gurcharan Besra (Jha) bt Kailash (UP) 108-94; (semifinals): Vishal bt Kailash 105-99; Kerai bt Besra 103-90; (quarterfinals): Vishal bt Gurpal Singh (Pun) 111-107; Kailash bt Mangal Singh 108-106; Besra bt Gautam Singh (Jha) 108-102; Kerai bt M. R. Tirkey (Ser) 104-99; (pre-quarterfinals): Vishal bt Vishwas (UP) 162-159; Gurpal bt Somai Murmu (Jha) 156-147; Mangal bt Firoz Khan (Del) 154-153; Kailash bt Limba Ram (Raj) 162-153; Besra bt W. Ranjan Singh (Ser) 158-157; Gautam bt Nand Kishore (Ser) 163-157; Kerai bt Jayanti Lal (Raj) 163-135; Tirkey bt Prabhat (UP) 156-154.
Women (final): Chekrovolu Swuro (Jha) bt Kezie Gunno (Jha) 99-90; (for third place): Dola Banerjee (Jha) bt Jhanu Hansda (Jha) 93-90; (semifinals): Kezie bt Dola 108-106; Chekrovolu bt Jhanu 91-87; (quarterfinals): Dola bt Bobby Dutta (Ben) 110-86; Kezie bt Sujata Das (Ben) 95-93; Jhanu bt B. Angela Devi (Mani) 99-95; Chekrovolu bt Bhagyawati Chanu (Mani) 100-95; (pre-quarterfinals): Dola bt Rashmi G. (Kar) 159-95; Bobby bt B. Girija Devi (Mani) 143-138; Sujata bt Renu Sharma (Har) 149-72; Kezie bt Rachna (Del) 140-117; Jhanu bt Sunaina Sharma (Del) 141-108; B. Angela Devi (Mani) bt Rupa Basak (Pun) 135-131; Bhagyawati bt Deveshree Deshmukh (Mah) 144-134; Chekrovolu bt Sangeeta Samanta (Ben) 157-131.
Team championship: Men (final): Jharkhand (Harish Kerai, Gurcharan Besra, Gautam Singh and Somai Murmu) 210 beat Delhi (Firoz Khan, Lokesh Chand, Avdesh Kumar and Hari Babu) 188; (for third place): Services beat Orissa 212-207; (semifinals): Delhi (Firoz Khan, Lokesh Chand and Avdesh Raghav) 216 beat Orissa (Rajesh Hasdak, Tapan Murmu and Durga Prasad) 213; Jharkhand (Harish Kerai, Gautam Singh and Somai Murmu) 235 beat Services (Nand Kishore, W. Ranjan Singh and M. R. Tirkey) 224; (quarterfinals): Delhi 238 bt Uttar Pradesh 224; Orissa 231 bt Punjab 228; Services 219 bt Andhra Pradesh 210; Jharkhand 242 bt Rajasthan 212.
Women (final): Jharkhand (Dola Banerjee, Chekrovolu Swuro, Jhanu Hansda and Kezie Gunno) 220 beat Manipur (B. Angela Devi, B. Girija Devi, K. H. Bhagyawati Devi and T. H. Ranjana Devi) 192; (for third place): Bengal beat Karnataka 191-152; (semifinals): Jharkhand (Chekrovolu Swuro, Dola Banerjee, Jhanu Hansda) 229 beat Karnataka (Keerthana L., Rashmi G., Sushma G.) 152; Manipur (Angela Devi, Girja Devi and Bhagyawati Chanu) 210 beat Bengal (Sujata Das, Swati Mukherjee and Bobby Dutta) 197; (quarterfinals): Jharkhand 225 bt Haryana 93; Karnataka 168 bt Delhi 157; Bengal 175 bt Punjab 133; Manipur 200 bt Maharashtra 67.
Indian Round: Individual: Men: 1. Ran Bahadur Tamang (Ser) 614, 2. Dipul Boro (Asm) 602, 3. U. Prasad (AP) 602.
Women: 1. L. Suni Devi (Mani) 577, 2. Violet Murmu (Jhar) 577, 3. B. Sophia Devi (Mani) 556.
Team championship: Men: Delhi (Ravinder Sharma, Radhey Shyam and Dinesh) 1768; 2. Assam (Dipul Boro, Binod Singh and Biswajit Das) 1727; 3. Bengal (Gopal Sabar, Sanjay Shankar and C. R. Baghel) 1721.
Women: Manipur (L. Suni Devi, B. Sophia Devi and B. Geetanjali Devi) 1678; 2. Jharkhand (Violet Murmu, Sakro Besra and Geera Biruli) 1528; 3. Assam (Pallavi Das, Anima Basumatary and Ranjumani Baruah) 1526.
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