Paris 2024 Olympics: Indian archers begin campaign with an eye on first archery medal

The Indian men and women archers will trust their hard training while trying to overcome last minute distractions due to the absence of Korean coach Baek Woong Ki and psychologist Gayatri Madkekar as they begin their campaign with a hope to win India’s first archery medal in the Paris Olympics on Thursday.

Baek did not get an accreditation, while Gayatri could not travel to Paris due to visa issues. 

Nevertheless, the men and women will try to shoot high scores and notch up top places in the individual ranking rounds in order to ensure good draws both in individual and team events.

While the women’s competition will be staged in the morning, the men’s competition will take place in the afternoon in the grand backdrop of Invalides.

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The men’s team of B. Dhiraj, Tarundeep Rai and Pravin Jadhav will try to seek confidence from its World Cup Stage-1 gold medal win in Shanghai, beating the elite Korean team.

The women’s side, comprising the seasoned Deepika Kumari, Ankita Bhakat and Bhajan Kaur, will take from their good showing in the World Cup Stage-3 in Antalya.

After the archers’ participation in the official practice session here on Wednesday, men’s coach Sonam Bhutia played down the concerns. “Everybody is fit and fine and is looking forward to the competition. As far as the psychologist is concerned, she trained the archers for about five months and can conduct sessions over video call,” said Bhutia.