New Delhi, (Samajweekly) Indian women archers would look to secure the remaining two Tokyo Olympic Games berths when they compete in the final Olympic qualification tournament from June 17-20 in Paris.
The Olympic qualification tournament will be followed by World Cup Stage-3 from June 21-27, at the same venue, where the Indians are expected to test their preparations for the Olympics.
A three-member women’s recurve team, comprising Deepika Kumari, Komalika Bari, Ankita Bhakat, along with their coaches and support staff had left for Paris on June 5 to comply with the France’s 10-day quarantine norms ahead of the final Olympic qualification tournament.
“The women archers have settled down at the Vichy Sports Complex, about four hours’ drive from Paris,” an Archery Association of India (AAI) statement said on Tuesday.
It said that the men’s recurve and the compound teams in both the men’s and women’s section would board the flight to Paris in the early hours of Wednesday to compete in the World Cup Stage-3.
The men’s recurve team comprises Atanu Das, Tarundeep Rai and Pravin Ramesh Jadhav, has already secured three quota places by virtue of their team silver at the World Championships in the Netherlands.
It’s now the turn of the women’s team to earn the Olympic quota. While Deepika has bagged the quota, Ankita and reigning under-18 world champion Komalika will attempt to augment India’s women’s quota for the Olympics from one to a full three in Paris. If they succeed, all three can head to Tokyo.
