Come Tuesday and the stage 1 of archery World Cup will commence in Shanghai. The event would witness athletes from over 49 countries vying for top honours in the competition. For India, the likes of Jayanta Talukdar, Deepika Kumari and L. Bombayla Devi will be fighting it out in the recurve category, while Andhra Pradesh’s Isaiah Sanam, Jyothi Surekha and Chittibomma Jignas would want to put their best foot forward in the compound event.
Jyothi, who trains at the Volga Archery Academy in Vijayawada, believes that the consistency she showed during practice would stand her in good stead at the Worlds. “It is a prestigious event and the competition is bound to be tough, but I hope to do well,” she said. The 16-year-old opined that China would be the biggest threat in the competition. “It is happening in their own backyard and they would definitely want to do well. But we are not going to go down without a fight,” she Surekha, who won bronze at the Asian Archery Championships in Tehran last year.
“Surekha has done us all proud by making the cut for the World Cup. She has won all three National titles — sub-junior, junior and senior National individual ones — which is a big achievement,” said Ch. Satyanarayana, chairman, Volga Archery Academy. However, Ritul Chatterjee failed to qualify for the team, finishing sixth in the selection trials. Surekha, Jignas and Isaiah have also booked their berths in the Indian team for stage 2 of the World Cup to be held at Antalya (Turkey) from May 1 to 6.
Isaiah has been in good form, winning gold in the team’s compound event at the National archery championships in Jamshedpur earlier this year. Jignas, who trained at the Volga Academy before shifting loyalties to the Army, won an individual gold at the Asian Grand Prix in Bangkok in February this year. With the archers peaking at the right time, one can be assured of more than a handful of medals at the Worlds.