12 hours ago
World archery championships: Dhiraj, Deepika Kumari, Ankita Bhakat and compound archer V. Jyothi to compete
Reigning compound individual World champions Ojas Deotale and Aditi Swami, Asian Games silver medallist Abhishek Verma and Olympian recurve archers Atanu Das and Bhajan Kaur have missed out on berths in the Indian team for the World archery championships, to be held in Gwangju, South Korea, from September 5 to 12.
Paris Olympians B. Dhiraj, Deepika Kumari and Ankita Bhakat and multiple Worlds medallist compound archer V. Jyothi Surekha were among those who finished inside the top three in the selection trials held at the Army Sports Institute, Pune.
The country can field a maximum of three archers in each category.
Youngsters Neeraj Chauhan (who beat Dhiraj in the elimination stage), Rahul and Gatha Khadake (who saw off Bhajan in elimination) gave impressive performances through the multi-format trials to earn coveted slots.
Archers finishing fourth in the trials will join the top three for the World Cup Stage-4 in Madrid from July 8 to 13.
It is learnt that in case a top-three archer's performance drops drastically in Madrid, the Archery Association of India (AAI) may consider replacing him/her with the fourth-placed athlete in that particular category for the World championships. A final decision on this is awaited.
Top-four archers:
Recurve: Men: 1. B. Dhiraj, 2. Neeraj Chauhan, 3. Rahul, 4. Tarundeep Rai; Women: 1. Deepika Kumari, 2. Ankita Bhakat, 3. Gatha Khadake, 4. Sharvari Shende.
Compound: Men: 1. Aman Saini, 2. Prathamesh Fuge, 3. Rishabh Yadav, 4. Priyansh; Women: 1. V. Jyothi Surekha, 2. Parneet Kaur, 3. Prithika Pradeep, 4. Taniparthi Chikitha.
