It is not easy to describe the sense of bewilderment in the Indian archery community in the wake of the women’s team’s defeat at the hands of Colombia on Monday in Paris in the Final Qualifier for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. More than a day and a half after it became clear that the Indian team would not be at Tokyo2020, the impact of the shock is still being felt.
Even if the second-round match was not streamed live, it was clear that the Indian was trailing all along against Colombia. The loss of three sets 54-55, 49-51, 52-53 was a result of the archers’ struggle to find the 10s and the Xs. From hitting 40.27 per cent of arrows as 10+Xs in the qualification round, the team’s percentage slid to just 27.77.
Worse, in the second set, India was done in by one of the arrows fetching merely 5 points. Any hopes of the team staging a comeback in the third set were belied when one of the arrows hit a 7. Any number of dreams, not the least of the squad itself, dissolved in just a few minutes despite the team being favoured to take one of the three slots available for Tokyo2020.
You can hear the rustling and shuffling as many scramble to discover which archer/s shot a 5 and 7 in the low-scoring match against Colombia. That is not as important now as the learning can be when you realise that it is the first time in five editions of the Olympic Games that the Indian women’s archery team has not qualified to compete in.
After all, the women’s team’s qualification was considered a mere formality. That stemmed mostly from its own steady performances in the past few years and the Final Qualification for Tokyo2020 was seen as a hurdle it would cross without much problem, even if its inability to make it to the quarterfinals of the World Championships 2019 was a factor.
Back in the 2019 World Archery Championships at ’S-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands, India lost 2-6 to Belarus in the second round and went out of the race to book a berth in the Olympic Games. There was immense belief that the team would have steeled itself up to do well in the Final Qualifier for Tokyo2020.
The four archers, who will head to Tokyo in less than a month, will have their task cut out in overcoming the impact of the women’s team’s second-round elimination by Colombia. They will have to find a way of leaving the Paris Meltdown behind, pick themselves up and perform to the best of their abilities.
Viewed from the larger perspective Indian archery will have to get back to the drawing board sooner than later if it is to stay competitive at the global level. Irrespective of what happens in the Olympic Games competition, Archery Association of India will have to take that step by engaging a High-Performance Director to ensure the sport stays on rails.
The need for a person who understands the technical aspects of sport, infuse team spirit among the archers by getting them to rise above the diverse cultures prevalent in the vast country and above competitive rivalries, and manage coach development around the country so that there is a quiver-full of good coaches at all levels, grass-roots to elite.
While elected officials can administer the national federation, it will need someone who understands the needs of modern sport to plan and run an efficient and effective training programme led to greater depth and competition for each spot in the squad so that the performances in global competition are of a high standard.
Having said that, it is even more imperative that the system helps the Indian archers become more resilient, with sharp competitive instincts that will not abandon them in key moments, especially against lower-ranked teams. Of course, the unpredictable nature of sport is a given, but India appears to be losing to such squads, more often than not, in major competitions.
Of course, a larger pool of talent will always help. But look at this: there are six elite archers in the Target Olympic Podium core group, 33 in the development group besides 190 archers being groomed under the Khelo India Scheme. Every effort must be made to ensure that these 200-plus archers are tracked, encouraged and made to strive as equals.
There is no doubt that all sport is humbling and strange things have happened. The women’s team’s losses in the 2019 World Championships and the Final Qualifier for Tokyo2020 should be motivation enough to find a professional way forward rather than just lament about attitude or arrogance or misfortune.
