There's no substitute to playing tournaments, opines Atanu Das

04/17/2021

Indian archer Atanu Das, who is all set to return to competitive action after a year, stated that there's no substitute for playing tournaments. Eight Indian archers, including four Tokyo-bound and two reserves, are on their way for the World Cup State I that begins on April 19, in Guatemala City.

It has been a rough one-year for the Indian archers with no competitive action owing to the Covid-19 pandemic. Even though few of them were stuck at the Army Sports Institute, in Pune, they were subject to truncated training sessions, while the lack of tournaments made it difficult for them to gauge their progress.

Eight Indian archers, including six Tokyo-bound athletes and two reserves, are on their way to Guatemala City for the upcoming World Cup Stage I, their first major tournament in almost two years. Atanu Das, one of the veterans in the squad, has admitted that there is no substitute for competition and believes that the upcoming event will help them identify their mistakes ahead of Tokyo Games.

"It's been more than two years since we last took part in any competition. Practice is fine, but there's no substitute to playing tournaments," said Atanu Das, as reported by TOI.

"We are shooting well in practice, but it remains to be seen how it is reflected in competition. We can identify our mistakes and work on those and if results come our way, we need to maintain that run till the Olympics,” added the athlete.

Squad for the World Cup Stage I:

Men: Atanu Das, Tarundeep Rai, Pravin Jadhav, Dhiraj Bommadevara

Women: Deepika Kumari, Ankita Bhakat, Komalika Bari, Madhu Vedwan