The Indian archery team led by experienced Deepika Kumari and Atanu Das have departed for Tokyo for the Olympic Games.
‘Way to Tokyo. The Journey begins. This is the first time we are getting the privileges to have a very comfortable journey. Thank you so much @Media_SAI @Anurag_Office @KirenRijiju @PMOIndia," Das tweeted.
Seasoned Das and Tarundeep Rai among men and Deepika in the women's section will headline the Indian recurve archery contingent at the Games.
After the final selection trials (Trial 3) at the Army Insititute of Sports in Pune, a six-strong squad which has three male and equal number of female archers was selected for the quadrennial extravaganza.
Besides Atanu and Tarundeep, the other archer in the Indian men's team is Pravin Jadhav, while Ankita Bhakat and Komolika Bari complete the women's squad.
Archery Association of India (AAI) President Arjun Munda feels the Tokyo-bound archery team will create history at the upcoming Tokyo Olympics.
"See we have confidence in our players that they will try their best and that try is for the nation, their success is nation's success. The way they have performed has made the nation proud, the recent gold medals in tournaments say everything. As the president of AAI, I feel that this time archers will do well in Olympics and script history on the international level," he told ANI.
A total of 126 athletes across 18 sports disciplines from India will be heading to Tokyo. This is the biggest-ever contingent India is sending to any Olympics. The 69 cumulative events across the 18 sport disciplines that India will participate in are also the highest ever for the country.
