For a skill that has been tested from the beginning of human interaction to establish prominence, archery has been a difficult discipline for the modern Olympics to get a grip on.

The competition as it is now organised bears resemblance to little before the 1972 Munich games, and the rules as they are now framed have been in operation for less than two decades. It is also a sport in which others must compete against a single country. South Korean men have not exactly taken all the gold home recently, but the women are so dominant that there float around absurd theories about a DNA advantage.

Mention that to Mangal Singh Champia, as he prepares his bow — a complex procedure that he, like all other archers, takes 10-15 minutes to assemble.

And he laughs, look, the Koreans have been doing this seriously for twenty years, we Indians for five-six. Also, how big are our respective talent pools, he asks, before answering himself: The Koreans 10,000, we 100. Nonetheless, hopefully for hasty good effect, the team now has the services of a South Korean coach, Lee Wang Woo, who has already shepherded eight gold medalists.

Confidence of experience

Champia is the lone male in the archery squad this time. A bronze medalist at Doha, the Jharkhand sportsman says he brings with him the confidence of experience.

His women team members too can look back to one moment in the recent past to recreate for themselves from experience one moment when it all came together so well.

... contd.