Pune: Olympic-bound recurve archers to resume national archery camp at Army Sports Institute

Pune: Sports Authority of India (SAI) announced on Thursday that the team of 16 recurve archers will resume their national archery camp at the Army Sports Institute (ASI) in the city. The team includes four coaches and two support staff which will soon report to the ASI for the national camp on August 25.

The team will have to undergo the COVID-19 test and the mandatory quarantine period after reporting to the institute and before they start their sports activities. The archers will have to follow the guidelines of the Health Ministry as well as the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) released by SAI during the camp. The camp was called off midway in March due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The team of archers who are joining the camp includes Tarundeep Rai, Atanu Das, B Dhiraj, Pravin Jadhav, Jayanta Talukdar, Sukhmanu Babrekar, Kapil, Vishwas, Deepika Kumari, Ankita Bhakat, L Bombayla Devi, Ridhi, Madhu Vedwan, Himani, Pramila Baria and Tisha Sancheti, who are all the top recurve archers in the country.

The men's team has earned an Olympic quota with Tarundeep, Atanu and Pravin through to the Tokyo Olympics next year. Deepika Kumari is presently the only woman archer from the country to have earned a quota. The players will strive to seal their Tokyo tickets at the Olympic qualification event in Paris next year.

In a press statement issued, SAI has said, "In view of the ensuing 2021 Olympics, the Sports Authority of India has sanctioned the National Archery Camp for Olympic-bound athletes from August 25, 2020 at the Army Sports Institute in Pune. The guidelines of the health ministry, the standard operating procedure given by SAI as well as the guidelines of the state government will be implemented on campus, while training is on."