India harvest top place on podium in Archery & Squash
They were beaming, they were over-confident and they promised to demolish the South Koreans – one of the best in Archery — every time they face them in the future.
On Saturday, however, no one was minding. For, Abhishek Verma, Rajat Chauhan and Sandeep Kumar of the compound Archery Men’s Team had achieved the unprecedented — they won the first-ever gold medal in Archery at the Asian Games for India — and won it against the mighty South Koreans.
A day after disappointment in the Recurve Archery event where only the women’s team could reach the semifinals and is in contention for bronze, compound archers hit the jackpot with four medals – a gold, a silver and two bronze – at the Gyeyang Asiad Archery Field here.
It was India’s best ever performance in the sport at the Asian Games. Abhishek also won silver in the individual event after the women’s earned a bronze each in team and individual categories.
“We have been noticing India’s position on the medals table every day and were determined to win the gold today. We are delighted to have done it,” said Jaipur-based Chauhan who has, incidentally, failed in 12th standard exams on four occasions.
The men’s trio led from the first series to beat South Korea 227-225 in the men’s team event. Abhishek and Rajat shot brilliantly throughout the match and were consistently hitting the perfect 10s. However, Sandeep was a bit off the target but never way off it.
“I think he (Sandeep) was good today. He was consistently hitting the 9s. On some days you just don’t find the 10-pointers and it was one of those days for Sandeep. It happens with everyone. On many occasions he has shot better than us,” said Abhishek, who is an inspector in Income Tax department, in support of his teammate.
“We were confident of our victory today. We trained very hard for this. All of us have complete faith in each other and we are like brothers,” he added.
Apart from the archers, the credit also goes to Sports Authority of India (SAI) and the Archery Association of India (AAI) which planned a thorough schedule for the compound archers two years in advance. A group of 10 archers was sent to Salt lake City in Utah, US, for a 15-day training camp under former world champion Dee Wilde, who is considered to be the best compound archery coach in the world.
“Americans have the best technology. The reason is that all the equipment manufacturers are based in America. What they are using today, we will get in two years’ time,” men’s coach Ranjan Singh Waribam said, explaining the reason for choosing US as the venue for international exposure.
“During the training, Dee Wilde mostly worked on their technique and helped them fine tune their equipment. It’s very important because a minor glitch can cost you dearly,” he added. The equipment archers used during Saturday’s heist was bought in the US and the difference reflected in their performance.
“He is the best coach. We chased him for two years before getting this 15-day slot,” Virendra Sachdeva, AAI treasurer, said. Also, archers came to Incheon 25 days in advance to acclimatise to the conditions. “Sometimes, what happens is that the athletes fall ill due to change in food and weather. So if you reach here 15-20 days in advance, it gives you time to recover and get back to the routine,” Jiwanjot Singh Teja, women’s compound team coach, said after the women’s team of Trisha Deb, Purvasha Shende and Jyothi Surekha Vennam won bronze in the team event, beating Iran 224-217.
In the women’s individual bronze medal match, Trisha rode her luck to 138-134 victory as her Chinese Taipei opponent Jou Huang, who was leading by a comfortable margin by then, missed a shot in the final series and got zero points. She bagged a bronze in the event.