NEW DELHI: Archery Association of India (AAI) President Arjun Munda feels the Tokyo-bound archery team will create history at the upcoming Tokyo Olympics.
"See we have confidence in our players that they will try their best and that try is for the nation, their success is nation's success. The way they have performed has made the nation proud, the recent gold medals in tournaments say everything. As the president of AAI, I feel that this time archers will do well in Olympics and script history on the international level," he told ANI.
Last month, the Indian women's recurve team comprising of Deepika Kumari, Komalika Bari, and Ankita Bhakat bagged a gold medal at the Archery World Cup Stage 3 in Paris. Deepika also won the Recurve individual event by 6-0 and mixed event with husband Atanu Das.
"Today there is really a cheering environment as our players are going to showcase their best performance in the Olympics and India is expecting from our players that they will surely perform best. The nation is supporting our players and the way the Prime Minister interacted with the players is something very good. He spoke with players, exchanged views and encouraged them. Players are also confident of doing well and I hope that our players will certainly do well in the Olympics," he pointed.
Meanwhile, the Indian archery team spearheaded by Deepika Kumari and Atanu Das has departed for Tokyo to take part in the Olympic Games. "Way to Tokyo. The Journey begins. This is the first time we are getting the privileges to have a very comfortable journey. Thank you so much @Media_SAI @Anurag_Office @KirenRijiju @PMOIndia," Atanu Das tweeted on Saturday.
A total of 127 athletes across 18 sports disciplines from India will be heading to Tokyo. This is the biggest-ever contingent India is sending to any Olympics. The 69 cumulative events across the 18 sport disciplines that India will participate in are also the highest ever for the country.