NEW DELHI: The national camp for recurve archers is set to commence at the Army Sports Institute in Pune from Tuesday. The camp was supposed to be made up of eight male and as many female archers but the opening day saw only the three Army archers and four others joining.
While a few archers had personal duties to take care of, a few got stuck due to professional commitments. Arjuna awardee Atanu Das and wife and former No 1 Deepika Kumari will travel to Pune on September 1 after the awards ceremony.
"After the awards ceremony, we will be travelling together on September 1. All permissions have been granted and I'm really looking forward to joining the camp," Atanu said.
Former Asian Games bronze medallist Jayanta Talukdar's father has contracted coronavirus and hence he has written to both the Archery Association of India (AAI) and SAI that he will be joining once his father returns to full fitness. CWG gold medallist L Bombayla Devi has booked her tickets for September 6 as she has some office-related work.
Both will have to undergo 14-day quarantine, leaving very little time to train at the camp. "I cannot help it. The issue is serious at home. I will definitely attend and have already sought permission," Jayanta added.
The remaining archers will be arriving within a week. "These are genuine reasons, so permission has been granted," an AAI official revealed. Tarundeep Rai, Pravin Jadhav and B Dhiraj were already at the ASI since the lockdown. Among women, Himani, Tisha Sancheti and Madhu Vedwan reached the institute while Vishwas was the lone male archer to arrive on Tuesday. All four coaches and the two support staff have reached the centre.
While the decision to host the camp in Pune has come under the scanner, with the majority of archers joining late, there might be a chance that it gets extended. But there is no official word on it yet.