India’s challenge at the World Cup Archery Tournament (Stage III) at Antalya in Turkey came to a premature end with both the men’s and women’s teams bowing out. Not that anybody expected them to secure a podium finish given the inexperience of the team, but with a little bit of luck at least the men’s recurve team could have made it to the semi-finals.

After accounting for the lowly placed USA 224-222 in the elimination round of eight the Indian squad of Tarundeep Rai, Rahul Banerjee and Priyank went down 24-26 to Malaysia in the tie-break. The teams were tied at 214 points each.

Talking about the team’s performance joint-secretary of the Archery Association of India (AAI), Arjuna Awardee and former India captain Sanjeev Singh said: “See, we have a very strong recurve men’s team in Rai, Banerjee and Jayanta (Talukdar). They are experienced, mentally tough and have shot in all kinds of conditions in different parts of the world. But when Jayanta was out we wanted to have a close look at our second line of archers.

“Here, they have a weak link in Priyank so I won’t think this has been a very bad performance and that too after going down in the tie-break,” Singh added.

In the women’s section, the Indians were up against second ranked China in the first round itself. This was, however, on expected lines as India finished 15th in the 16-team qualifying event. So as expected Dola Banerjee, Bombayla Devi and Chekrovolu Swuro bowed out by a 216-203 margin.

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