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Indian archery's high-performance director, Sanjeeva Singh, remains optimistic about the country's chances at the upcoming Paris Olympics 2024. He believes the six-member Indian squad will bring home three medals, ending a long wait for success on the Olympic stage.
"If we go by current form and the way the archers are performing, we can realistically look at three medals — men’s individual, men’s team and mixed team," Singh said in a statement.
The Indian archery team will compete in all five categories in the Paris Olympics 2024: men's individual recurve, women's individual recurve, men's team, women's team, and mixed team.
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The squad, comprising Dhiraj Bommadevara, Pravin Jadhav, Tarundeep Rai, Deepika Kumari, Bhajan Kaur, and Ankita Bhakat, underwent a rigorous training and acclimatization program in Compiegne, France, before arriving at the Games Village.
"Out of these three, one will definitely happen. A medal from the women’s competition will be a bonus but the team has to click together," he added.
Singh spoke about the improvements in preparation compared to the Tokyo Olympics, with a focus on scientific training, mental conditioning, and aligning domestic tournaments with the Olympic format. Interestingly, Sanjeeva Singh himself had participated in individual and team events at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul.
“Compared to 2021 Tokyo, the preparation has been better planned with a lot of stress on scientific training, mental conditioning and more importantly, tweaking the nature of domestic tournaments in line with the Olympic format,” Singh added.
39.18 crores spent on Indian archery ahead of Paris Olympics 2024
Sanjeeva Singh also revealed that a huge financial investment was made by the ministry in preparation for the athletes ahead of the Paris Olympics 2024. The ministry allocated Rs 39.18 crores to Indian archery for the Paris 2024 cycle (2021-2024).
The Indian government, through its Target Olympics Podium Scheme, funded 41 national camps and 24 international exposure trips. Dhiraj Bommadevara had about Rs 1.07 crore dedicated to his training in Sonepat.
”If they can maintain that focus and play bold, a podium finish is a huge possibility,” he concluded.
