New Delhi: An amount of Rs. 2.77 crore has been spent so far under ‘Operation Excellence for London Olympics 2012’ (OPEX 2012) scheme on the training of fourteen Archers who are being trained by seven Coaches/ Supporting Staff. The total duration of Camps has been 305 days till now, comprising of a foreign exposure of 50 days.

The expenditure incurred in foreign exposure was Rs. 1.74 crore approximately. The training initially started with 64 archers (32 men and 32 women) but the list was first pruned to 32 (16 men and 16 women), and subsequently to 14 (8 men and 6 women), in order to zero in on the core probables only. This was stated by Paresh Mukherjee, Secretary General, Archery Association of India (AAI), in review meeting of the preparation for Olympics, 2012, called by Ajay Maken, Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports.

Mukherjee also made a request for provision of certain additional equipments and gadgets such as devices for video analysis of shooting, bows with full accessories as per individual requirement, arrows with tungsten points, etc. The Sports Minister asked him to submit all the requests for gadgets and equipments as well as for foreign training of players, if any, by January 30th, 2012, so that the necessary clearances for the same can be given at the earliest.

In the meeting, the AAI Secretary General also apprised the Sports Minister regarding the upcoming events for qualification to London Olympics. They are:

So far four archers (3 women and 1 man) from India have made it to the Olympics, 2012, scheduled to be held in London. They are: Deepika Kumari, Chekrovolu Swuro and Bombayala Devi for the 3- member Team Recurve event; and, Jayanta Talukdar for individual Recurve event. Mukherjee said that in all likelihood Indian archers would achieve maximum places possible for a country, that is, 3 archers each per country both in men and women category for individual events, and one team each of 3 archers in men and women category per country.

Four archers from India, namely, Dola Banerjee, V. Parnitha, L.Bombayla Devi and Mangal Singh Champia participated in Beijing Olympics 2008. Dola Banerjee, V. Parnitha and Ms. L.Bombayla Devi came 22nd, 31st and 37th respectively in ranking round while Indian women team comprising of same three players secured 7th Position. Mangal Singh Champia secured 2nd Position in Ranking Round but lost in 2nd Round of Individual events.