Indian archers await camps as provisional 2021 World Cup dates announced

Indian archers continue to wait for the resumption of their training camps as World Archery on Monday announced provisional dates for the World Cup and World Archery Championships.

Though the host country for the 2021 Archery World Cup final stage is yet to be confirmed, the first three stages of the competition are to be held in Guatemala City, Shanghai and Paris from April to June 2021.

While the first stage in Guatemala will take place from April 19-25, the second stage in Shanghai will be held from May 17-23 and the third stage will be held in Paris from June 22-27. The final stage of the Archery World Cup is scheduled in September-October 2021.

“At this time, it is hoped that all events scheduled in 2021 will take place as normal,” the World Archery release read.

“However, given the current public health situation, the status of the calendar will be constantly reviewed.

“Any measures required to safeguard the well-being of athletes and coaches will be implemented.”

Apart from the World Cup, the World Archery Championships are scheduled to be held in Yankton, USA from September from 19-26, while World Archery Youth Championships have been scheduled in Perth from October 11-17.

AAI closes in on venues

Since international sporting events were suspended in March, Indian archers have been at their homes due to the nationwide lockdown.

An Archery Association of India (AAI) spokesperson said archers have done whatever they could with some target practice at home.

“The archers want a 50m distance to practice properly, which isn’t available for them at home,” the AAI spokesperson told Olympic Channel.

“They are just practicing at a 10m distance now and a proper camp is what they now need,” the spokesperson added.

Earlier, the Indian archers were informed by the AAI that the national events were slated to start late in July, which now could be rescheduled for a later date.

“We are thinking of resuming our training by first week of September,” the spokesperson said.

However, with other sport centres and camps gradually opening up in the country, AAI is looking for training camps ahead of the Tokyo Olympics next year.

“We have sorted two-three venues. But with complications here and there we have two places in mind – Army Institute in Pune and Tata academy in Jharkhand,” the spokesperson added.

With the men’s individual and team quotas secured by Atanu Das and Co., India will target clinching the maximum quota available for the women’s events – where only Deepika Kumari has qualified so far.

The final Olympic qualification event will be a standalone one - just before the Paris World Cup stage – from June 18-21.