With LA 2028 Olympics in sight, top archers Deepika Kumari, Atanu Das appoint Rahul Banerjee as coach 

Recurve archer Deepika Kumari, who has represented India at four Olympic Games, and her husband Atanu Das, a two-time Olympian, have roped in Rahul Banerjee, a former Commonwealth Games champion, as their new coach.

Deepika and Das are currently competing in the National Archery Championships in Jamshedpur and are accompanied by Banerjee in their first outing together as a ‘team’.

Rahul Banerjee, also a medallist at both the Asian Games and Asian Championships, runs an archery academy in Kolkata with his sister and two-time Olympian, Dola Banerjee.

The decision to join forces came after a discussion between Rahul Banerjee and Atanu Das during a commentary stint during the Paris 2024 Olympics.

“I and Rahul bhai were commentating during the Olympics when we discussed a few things. I liked his ideas and we started working (in August). Then Deepika joined,” Atanu told Sportstar on the sidelines of the national championships.

Deepika, a former world No. 1, remains India’s most decorated archer, with medals at every major event except the Olympics.

At Paris 2024, she was eliminated in the quarter-finals of both individual and team events. However, Deepika Kumari made a strong comeback in October, defeating Paris 2024 medallists Yang Xiaolei and Alejandra Valencia to claim silver at the Archery World Cup Final.

Atanu Das, an Asian Games team silver medallist, missed qualification for Paris 2024. Both Deepika, 30, and Das, 32, have set their eyes on representing India at the LA2028 Olympics. Das added the ‘dream and hunger’ to win an Olympic medal was undiminished.

Explaining that Deepika had issues with managing time and Das with his left hand, Banerjee said the focus is on ‘gap analysis’.

“The (current) training prepares them well so that they don’t feel the pressure at the (upcoming) Olympics. There was a gap and I am bridging that gap,” said Rahul Banerjee.