The Indian compound archers did well at the seventh Fazza World Ranking Tournament – Dubai 2021 held recently. Rakesh Kumar won the compound gold while the mixed team of Harminder Singh and Pooja won the recurve gold in Mixed team.
Rakesh won his 1/8th matches ( 142/140). In the quarter final, he defeated No 1 ranked Atamanenk Serhiy from Ukraine( 142 vs 137). In the semi final, Rakesh ousted Agyan of Turkey , ranked No 5 by 143 vs 138. In the final, Rakesh was composed as he beat Shyam Sunder of India ranked 2 with a 143/135 score.
In the mixed team recurve event India ( Harvinder & Pooja) defeated second ranked Ukraine in the semi final via tie breaker. In the finals, India Turkey, ranked 1, in a tie breaker.
In the process, Shyam Sunder defeated former World No. 1 Marcel Pavlik from Slovakia 145 vs 143 in men’s compound open. Rakesh defeated Aryan Erdogan of Turkey another former medallist, 143 vs 138. Jyoti defeated Dzhioeva Anastasia of Russia.
As many as 70 archers from 11 nations were competing in this year’s Championships which will also mark the return of Para Archery action after a year. Dubai had hosted the last Para Archery Championships – the 6th Fazza Para Archery World Ranking Tournament in February 2020 before the Coronavirus pandemic struck, suspending or cancelling all sporting events.
This year’s championships, hosted under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mansoor bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Dubai Sports Council, saw participation from Algeria, France, India, Iran, Kazakhstan Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Arab Emirates.
India won the highest number of medals in the Para International Tournament so far.
Gold Medal- Recurve Mixed Team( Harvinder & Pooja), Compound Indv( Rakesh Kumar)
Silver Medal – Compound Mixed Team( Shyam Sunder & Jyoti Baliyan), Compound Indv M( Shyam Sunder) & Women( Jyoti Baliyan)
Arjun Munda, President, Archery Association of India, expressed happiness on the performance. He said he is hopeful the Indian archers will win medals at the Paralympics in Tokyo. He also said that there is chances of Jyoti Baliyan and Pooja qualifying at the Czech World Ranking Tournament.
Virendra Sachdeva, ex Sec General and ex Treasurer, AAI also applauded the efforts of the coaches and players on their achievement. Also present on the occasion were Sanjeeva Singh, High Performance Director(Archery). “We are trying to provide training on scientific lines to enhance the team’s performance,” he said.
Olympian Limba Ram also blessed the archers and motivated them to perform better. Team Coaches Anil Joshi and Deepak Malik were also felicitated along with the archers
