The Olympic-bound Indian archers on Wednesday took their second shots of COVID-19 vaccine, becoming the first fully vaccinated lot of athletes from the country ahead of the Tokyo Games.
Former World No 1 Deepika Kumari, who was making a comeback after her maternity break, on Monday failed to make the Indian team for the Asian Games, World Cup and World Championships slated later this year.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
A strong Indian archery contingent will look to grab all the 10 gold medals on offer when they open their campaign with the qualification round in the 12th South Asian Games at the Jawaharlal Sports Complex Polo Ground on Friday. Former world No 1 and India's Olympic medal hope Deepika Kumari will lead the country's charge in the women's recurve section along with another Olympian in Laishram Bombayla Devi, who will be joined by Madhu Vedwan and Laxmirani Majhi who won the national ranking final last month. Asian Games silver medalist Tarundeep Rai will look to defend his title in the individual recurve section, which will also have the experience of Jayanta Talukdar besides the youngster duo of Binod Swansi and Gurucharan Besra.
What a year Sania Mirza, Leander Paes, Saina Nehwal, Vijender Singh and Anirban Lahiri had!