Pravin Jadhav lone Olympian in India’s 16-member squad for Asian archery
Newly-crowned national champion Parth Salunkhe also made it to the squad. The Asian archery championships will be held in Bangladesh next month.
Tokyo Olympian Pravin Jadhav booked a spot in the Indian squad for the 2021 Asian archery championship by finishing in the top four of the men’s recurve during the selection trials in Jamshedpur on Monday.
The Asian championship, to be held in Dhaka, Bangladesh in November, will be Pravin Jadhav’s first international outing since returning from Tokyo 2020. The 25-year-old had missed out on last month’s world championship in the USA.
Along with Pravin Jadhav, newly-crowned national champion Parth Salunkhe also confirmed his place at the continental showpiece. National runner-up Sukhchain Singh and Kapil are the other archers in the men’s recurve team.
The women’s national winner Dipti Kumari, however, could not continue her winning run at the selection trials and missed the bus.
Reigning youth world champion Komalika Bari, Ankita Bhakat, Ridhi Phor and Madhu Vedwan were the four archers that made the women’s recurve team. Komalika, Ankita and Ridhi had represented India at the 2021 world championships too.
It was a similar story in the women’s compound team too, with world silver medallist and national champion Jyothi Surekha Vennam being joined by familiar team-mates Muskan Kirar, Priya Gurjar and Parneet Kaur. The troika of Jyothi, Muskan and Priya had clinched a team silver at the world event in September.
Meanwhile, former Asian champion Abhishek Verma carried his purple patch from the national meet to qualify for the continental competition. He will be joined by Rishabh Yadav, Aman Saini and Mohit in the men’s compound team.
The top 16 archers in each category from the nationals contested at the selection trials.
Indian team for 2021 Archery Asian Championships
Recurve men
Pravin Jadhav, Parth Salunkhe, Sukhchain Singh and Kapil
Recurve women
Komalika Bari, Ankita Bhakat, Ridhi Phor and Madhu Vedwan
Compound men
Abhishek Verma, Rishabh Yadav, Aman Saini and Mohit
Compound women
Jyothi Vennam, Muskan Kirar, Priya Gurjar and Parneet Kaur.