Questions aplenty for archers as camp looms

The camp will be on till September 30 with eight male and as many female archers in atte­ndance.
For representational purposes
For representational purposes

NEW DELHI:  The Sports Authority of India (SAI) has confirmed that the national camp for all recurve archers will be held at the Army Sports Institute, Pune from August 25, as reported by this daily on July 30. The camp will be on till September 30 with eight male and as many female archers in atte­ndance. Four coaches and two support staff which incl­u­des a physio and a masseuse will also be a part of the camp.

All 16 athletes, coaches and support staff will be administered the RT-PCR test upon arrival and will have to undergo 14 days of self-quarantine. Interestingly, all female archers will also be staying inside the ASI campus, a change from the norm. Tarundeep Rai, Atanu Das, B Dhiraj, Pravin Jadhav, Jayanta Talukdar, Sukhmanu Babrekar, Kapil, Vishwas, Deepika Kumari, Ankita Bhakat, L Bombayla Devi, Ridhi, Madhu Vedwan, Himani, Premila Baria and Tisha Sancheti are the archers who will be attending. 

“ASI was the best choice for the camp as they can directly reach the venue from the airport in quick time. Also, army personnel will keep things in check inside and there will be no compromise regarding safety,” a top official informed. However, the athletes in question have asked a series of pertinent questions which they felt should have been addre­s­sed. Even though SAI is in-ch­a­rge of the entire ticketing procedure, the archers wanted the dates to be confirmed earlier. Quite a few are also unhappy with the choice of venue.

Also, most archers have started practicing in some capacity in the last month. A few in fact have been practicing wi­th targets kept at the optimum distance. Keeping in mind the quarantine rules, those archers might again become inactive which could lead to poor form during the camp. Also if the camp ends in September, archers will effectively get 20-22 days which is not enough. For archers who might get infected, the camp might end up being a total loss. There is still no clarity on wh­en selection trials will be he­ld and how many will happen considering the loss in time.   

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The New Indian Express
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