It’s strange, but true. With just eight months to go for the Beijing Olympic Games, world champion archer Dola Banerjee is not sure of her plans. In fact, she has left it to the Archery Association of India (AAI) to chalk out the strategy. The AAI, on its part, believes that the six upcoming international meets, including the four world cups, will be good enough for her to pick up the thread from where she had left off.

“Since I don’t know myself, I can’t tell you where and how I will be training for the August Games,” said Dola when asked about her training schedule. Her statement was a bit of a surprise, particularly after what Dola had said soon after bagging the world title.

“From now on, my target will be a medal in Beijing and I am confident of a podium finish,” she had thundered. But the question is, can she do that without proper training?

The ace archer, who was in the Capital on Sunday to participate in the 1000 days countdown for the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games function, said she will be training with her coach in Jamshedpur. Though she is one of the chosen few to be among the Samsung scholarship under the aegis of the Indian Olympic Association, she hinted at inadequate funds for training abroad.

“Archery is expensive. Huge money is required when preparing for big competition like the Olympics,” she pointed out. But the AAI doesn’t agree with her entirely. Senior vice-president Paresh Mukherjee, also chief of the technical wing of the federation, says there is no dearth of training facilities and equipment in the country. “Training abroad or foreign coach may help a bit, but the archer must have the confidence to win. The archers need to develop the winning habits,” he told The Indian Express from Kolkata.

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