Leading into the 2012 London Olympics, the confident tone of India's archery contingent was unmistakable. The team's head coach, former Commonwealth Games gold medalist Limba Ram, was postulating on India's chances and the archers themselves were brimming with self-assurance. This was, after all, the first time since Athens 2004 that India had filled the six quota places available at the Games. India had had a successful season, with the highlight being the crowning of 18-year-old Deepaki Kumari as the women's World No. 1. There was even talk of India's archers winning a medal at the London Games.
Was this confidence misplaced? With the benefit of hindsight, it is easy to say yes. The men's team lost in a close shootout to Japan and the women's team, ranked second best in the world, lost Denmark in the first round. In the individual competition, the outcome was no different with Deepika especially producing a below par performance to bow out of the individual recurve event. It was almost embarrassing to watch India's archers, and the image of Bombayla Devi laughing after missing a shot during an event at Lord's is perhaps the lasting impression of the women's archery contingent in London.
The reasons for this failure to compete at the London Games have varied, with some citing the wind factor at Lord's - despite a conditioning camp in windy Gangtok to get the archers acclimatized for Londons soppy weather - and illness to certain players and others the need
08:41 AM, Aug 10, 2012
London: Indian archers, spearheaded by world number one Deepika Kumari who was touted as a strong medal prospect, produced a super flop show at the London Olympics and drew a blank in both team and individual competitions. The hype around the archery event was immense ever since it was announced that the discipline would take place at the famed Lord's cricket ground. The Indian team, however, failed to lift its...
03:29 PM, Aug 02, 2012
London: The Indian men's archery team was knocked out of the Olympic Games after losing to Japan in a tense pre-quarterfinal shoot-off at the Lord's Cricket Ground on Saturday. The trio of Jayanta Talukdar, Rahul Banerjee and Tarundeep Rai, who had qualified bottom of the heap at 12th in the rankings round yesterday, were tied with their Japanese rivals at 214 after the regulation four rounds. But the threesome of...
02:54 PM, Jul 28, 2012
London: Jayanta Talukdar, Tarundeep Rai and Rahul Banerjee will look to put Fridays disappointment behind when they feature in the men's team archery on Saturday. The quarter-finals, the semi-finals, the bronze-medal tie and the final will be played on Saturday morning at Lords. It will start at 1330 Indian Standard Time. Rai was the highest-placed Indian but at a disappointing 31st place in the ranking qualification on Friday. Other than...
11:21 AM, Jul 28, 2012
London: Korea have set a team world record of 2087 points, with Dong Hyun Im setting an individual world record with a score of 699/720, at the Men's Individual and Team Ranking Rounds of the Archery event at the London 2012 Olympics in which Tarundeep Rai was the highest-placed Indian but at a disappointing 31st place. Other than Rai, who scored 664 points from 72 shots, Rahul Banerjee is placed...
04:04 PM, Jul 27, 2012
London: Touted as serious medal contenders, a bunch of shy and unassuming archers will seek to give India's Olympic campaign the perfect start when the event gets underway here on Thursday at the hallowed turf of Lord's, the spiritual home of cricket. If the archers needed a spark of inspiration, they simply have to turn to the historic venue which has witnessed cricketing heroics for many a generation. Now the...
02:54 PM, Jul 26, 2012
Kolkata: With India set to compete in all four archery events of next month's London Olympics after the men's team made the cut, the country has the best chance to win a medal and script history, Archery Association secretary general Paresh Nath Mukherjee said on Friday. The Indian trio of Tarundeep Rai, Jayanta Talukdar and Rahul Banerjee finished second to secure a team berth from the final qualification tournament for...
03:24 PM, Jun 22, 2012
Kolkata: Indian men's archery team comprising Tarundeep Rai, Jayanta Talukdar and Rahul Banerjee secured Olympic berth beating Australians in the qualifiers at Ogden, USA, on Friday. According to information received here, India thrashed Australia by a handsome 221-209 margin in the semi-finals to ensure a place in the next month's Olympics. In the last qualification meet for the Olympics, the trio displayed nerves of steel as they first overwhelmed their...
09:00 AM, Jun 22, 2012
Kolkata: The Indian men's recurve team of Jayanta Talukdar, Tarundeep Rai and Rahul Banerjee settled for a silver after going down to their opponents from Great Britain in the Archery World Cup Stage II in Antalya. According to information received, the Indian trio lost the final with a margin of 211-222. The Indian threesome had 53 in the first end as against 58 by the trio of Laurence Godfrey, Simon...
09:53 PM, May 06, 2012
