NEW DELHI: Trials to select archers for the Asian Championships have come to an end in both recurve and compound categories. While the top four will take part in the continental championship, the Olympic qualification event, which starts post the competition, will see the top three trying their luck. This means Deepika Kumari will miss out as she finished fourth in the recurve women’s trials.
This will be a big blow for the former World No 1 as now she will have one last event remaining to confirm her participation for Tokyo — the Berlin World Cup in 2020. The meet in Bangkok, which starts from November 21, has individual quotas on offer while Berlin will have team quotas. Olympic rules state that six quota places are on offer for each NOC, three for men and three for women.
“It was not explicitly mentioned but since she (Deepika) finished fourth, she is eligible to take part in the Asian Championship but not Olympic qualifier. We have sent all the results to the Transitory Committee who have forwarded the entries already,” a member of the selection committee said. Last date for confirming entries is Tuesday.
Ankita Bhakat, Bombayla Devi and Promila Daimary will be the three Indian women taking part in the Olympic qualifiers. Deepika did not want to comment on the selection process but hoped for a quota to be secured by her teammates.“Deepika is one of our best archers. She should not feel disheartened. If she improves her form, I’m sure she can help the team earn the quota next year,” a senior official said.
Compound trials
Trials to select teams for compound got over in Rohtak on Monday and a few fresh faces made the cut. The men’s section sees Rajat Chauhan, Abhishek Verma, Kawalpreet Singh and MR Bhardwaj pass the test while among women, V Jyothi Surekha, Muskan Kirar, Priya Gurjar, TH Ishembi Devi got selected.
“The team has a good mixture of young and experienced heads. The trials were quite competitive and it was good to see the young guns doing so well. We are confident of winning medals in Bangkok,” Abhishek added.