Dola Banerjee, the first Indian woman archer to qualify for the Olympics in 2004, has been ruled out of the individual event for the Beijing Games and has been asked to appear for trials for a slot in the team event, sources in the Archery Association of India (AAI) said on Wednesday.

The archer, woefully out of form, is set to make way for Bombaya Devi in the individual competition. The selection trials for the team competition are between June 26 and 29 in Kolkata, where she will have to outscore the in-form Reena Kumari and Chekrovolu Swuro, and Sushma and V Parineeta, for the two vacant slots. The other automatic choice in the three-member team is Bombaya Devi.

Dola had qualified for the Athens Olympics by virtue of her performance in the 42nd World Outdoor Target Archery Championship in New York in 2003. Two years later, she created history by winning the 18th Golden Arrow Grand Prix tournament at Antalya (Turkey), where she defeated Ukrainian third seed Tatyana Dorokhova.

Dola was on a roll back then, but today, says AAI secretary Gunjan Abrol, she will have to prove herself again. “It’s a huge surprise to all of us, including Dola, why and how her form has dipped so badly. Since the World Cup in the UK last year, her performance has not been up to the mark,” he said.

Olympic quota berths are given to the national federation and the AAI has to decide on its team members based on their current form.

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