Amid controversy over Korean coach, India's HPD Sanjeeva Singh predicts 3 medals in archery

NEW DELHI: Amid the controversy of the Indian archery team's Korean coach Baek Woong Ki being denied accreditation for the Paris Games, former Olympian and SAI's high performance director for the sport Sanjeeva Singh is confident the six-member squad will return with three medals from the Olympics and end its decades-long quest for success in the quadrennial showpiece.

Indian archers will start in all five categories -- men's individual recurve, women's individual recurve, men's and women's team and mixed team.

Six Indians -- Dhiraj Bommadevara, Pravin Jadhav, Tarundeep Rai, Deepika Kumari, Bhajan Kaur and Ankita Bhakat -- have qualified for Paris 2024 and following a training-cum-acclimatisation stint at Compiegne in France, they were among the first batch of athletes from the country to enter the Games Village.

"Compared to 2021 Tokyo, the preparation has been better planned with a lot of stress on scientific training, mental conditioning and more importantly, tweaking the nature of domestic tournaments in line with the Olympic format," Singh, the HPD of SAI's National Centre of Excellence for archery in Sonepat, said in a statement.

"If we go by current form and the way the archers are performing, we can realistically look at three medals -- men's individual, men's team and mixed team. Out of these three, one will definitely happen. A medal from the women's competition will be a bonus but the team has to click together," said Singh, a regular with both the junior and senior national squad in international competitions, but who is not with the team in Paris.

Singh's comments come just a day after India's foreign coach Baek Woong was denied accreditation for the Games. The Korean, who had reached the French capital with the Indian team after overseeing its preparation in Marseille, said on Saturday that he "was removed from the Olympic coaching role at a critical time" and will now be flying back to India with his return ticket already booked.

Lashing out at the Indian Olympic Association, Baek Woong, a renowned coach, said, "I am a Korean coach who signed a contract to prepare (the Indian archers) for the Paris Olympics. But at a critical time, I was removed from the Olympic coaching role and my flight schedule told me to return home."

Baek Woong had guided archery heavyweights South Korea to two gold medals at the 2012 London Olympics, added that "I have a contract until August 30 and I signed it for the purpose of the Olympics. I plan to arrive at Sonipat and calmly prepare for the formalities of entering Korea," he said, making it clear that he will not renew his contract

The archery competition in Paris begins on July 25 and will continue till August 4.

Singh, who competed in the individual and team events at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, said the sports ministry pumping in huge amount of money in the current Olympic cycle is the reason for so many Indian archers qualifying for the Olympics.

"The ministry has spent Rs 39.18 crores on archery in the Paris Olympics cycle (2021-2024). A total of 41 national camps and 24 foreign exposure trips were supported by the Indian government through its Target Olympics Podium Scheme," he said.

He opined the men's team qualifying for Paris late was a blessing in disguise.

"The fact that the men's team qualified late for Paris is probably a boon. It kept our archers on their toes and if they can maintain that focus and play bold, a podium finish is a huge possibility," he said.

Singh, while not giving any hint why the Korean coach was denied accreditation, said the seniors in the squad like Deepika Kumari and Tarundeep Rai will have to step up and take on the challenge head on in the team events.

Both Deepika and Rai will be playing their fourth Olympics.

"Deepika has matured a lot and did well in two World Cups. Her role will be very important because she is anchoring the team at the end. She needs to finish boldly and confidently. A lot depends on her. She has to be in the right frame of mind because at times she becomes a little edgy. If Deepika remain calm, cool and let fly her arrows in one go, sky is the limit," said Singh.

“He (Tarundeep) is not short on experience but if he and Pravin (Jadhav) are confident and bold and if they don't take too much time to shoot and follow what they have been doing at training, a medal is assured," said Singh.

"The seniors have to lead from the front and it's important to perform as a team."