NEW DELHI: The archery national camp has been on at the Army Sports Institute in Pune since August 25 but the camp is finally going to get its full quota of sixteen archers training together from October 30 with the final archer set to finish her quarantine on the previous day.
Two archers resumed training in the second week of this month and finally, the group can begin training in earnest. And the archers are in a bullish mood after a long period. Arjuna awardee Atanu Das summed up the mood in the camp perfectly.
"Training has never been this enjoyable. The feeling of shooting the first arrow after a lengthy gap of six months is something I never thought I would have to explain. It feels great and I'm sure we will all improve as a group in the days to come with more practice under our belts."
The only archer to earn an Olympic quota place among women, Deepika Kumari mentioned how it will take time to get back to their previous level prior to lockdown.
"A month of training will be needed. There are lots of factors at play including technical aspects, physical fitness and also mental calmness when it comes down to pressure situations."
The main worry for the group is the lack of competitions. The national calendar is not yet out and while the international schedule has been announced, the ever-changing Covid-19 situation might put a dent to those plans.
"After training and getting back to peak form and fitness, competitions will be the need of the hour. It is a vital aspect in understanding how far we have come and what we need to improve upon especially considering the Olympics are just around the corner. We have spoken to the Archery federation as well as SAI and asked for a few internal competitions at least," Atanu added.
Archery Association of India had plans of organising an open selection trial to add to the list of 16 archers in Pune and then go on to conduct trials ( for Olympics). According to sources, that open trial might happen at the Tata Institute in Jamshedpur in November with the minimum score set to be kept on the higher side to ensure only top archers are present and to avoid large gathering.
"Hopefully, all the dates will be announced in advance and the entire selection process can get over well before the international calendar swings into action. If we get more time to gel as a group and prepare, good results will definitely follow," Atanu averred.