Kolkata: India's first Archery World Cup Final gold-medallist Dola Banerjee is pleased to have the company Dhiraj Bommadevara in the select club after 19 years and believes it will inspire the other Asian Games-bound archers to better their record medal haul from the previous edition.
Dhiraj, who had stunned double Olympic-medallist Lee Woo-Seok of Korea to win his maiden World Cup gold in Antalya Stage 3 in June, carried his form to the season-ending Final in Saltillo, Mexico to win a gold on Sunday, just a week before the Asian Games.
Dola, who won the World Cup Final in Dubai in 2007 and is now a sports officer with Eastern Railway, said Dhiraj's success against the world's top eight archers should give him immense confidence.
"Competing among the season's top eight archers and winning gold is not easy. Definitely, the win would have boosted his confidence big time. He's undoubtedly in the peak form of his life," Dola told PTI in an interview at Eastern Railway's Divisional Railway Manager's office in Sealdah here.
"Yes, it's a proud moment for Indian archery that I'm joined by someone after 19 years. There is a confidence in his body language. It comes when you're shooting well, and he has reached that stage."
Dola also said Dhiraj's consistency over the years will hold him in good stead in the Asian Games.
"Dhiraj has been consistently shooting well for the last five-six years and has been with the Indian team. That consistency and mental toughness will definitely help him," she said.
She also joked that Dhiraj's historic triumph had not taken away her own unique place in Indian archery.
"About being sad, well, I'm still the only woman archer to have the World Cup Final gold, so there's exclusivity," Dola added in a lighter vein.
Dhiraj is now the only Indian male to win gold at the World Cup Final.
Jayant Talukdar, who won bronze in Edinburgh in 2010, and Abhishek Verma, who won silver in Mexico in 2015 and bronze in Samsun in 2018, are the other Indian male medallists at the event.
India head into the Asian Games in a period of transition after making history in the Hangzhou edition, where its compound archers swept all five gold medals on offer and the contingent finished with a record nine medals (5-1-3).
Several established names, including Deepika Kumari and Atanu Das in recurve and Verma in compound, have failed to make the team this time.
Defending champion Ojas Deotale who went on to win a hat-trick of gold medals at Hangzhou, including team gold with Verma and mixed pair gold with Jyothi Surekha Vennam, has failed to make the cut from the trials.
The men's recurve team has Dhiraj alongside newcomers Neeraj Chauhan and Yashdeep Bhoge, while the women's team features two teenagers, Kirti Sharma and Kumkum Mohod, with Ankita as the only experienced archer.
The men's compound team is also new-look, comprising Sahil Jadhav, Kushal Dalal and Thirumuru Ganesh Mani Ratnam, while Jyothi is the only experienced member of the women's team, which also features Chikitha Taniparthi and Prithika Pradeep.
Dola acknowledged that the Asian Games would be considerably tougher with full-strength Korean and strong Chinese contingents, but said Dhiraj's World Cup Final triumph could lift the team.
"I'm hoping he will definitely come out with an individual medal, which was missing last time. So we all are hoping for an individual medal for him.
"When someone does well, he also inspires the entire team around him. So Dhiraj's triumph is a big boost not only for him but the entire recurve contingent. We are hoping for a better show than last time."
Dola also rejected the suggestion that the Indian team was completely inexperienced, pointing to the presence of Dhiraj and Ankita as senior members who can guide the younger archers.
Double-digit medals target
While she stopped short of predicting the colour of the medals, Dola expects India's overall tally to rise from nine, particularly with recurve looking to add individual medals to its mixed team haul.
"I can't predict the colour, but the total number of medals should be more this time. We will definitely win more."
The Asian Games also carry added significance of Olympic qualification opportunity. With compound set to make its Olympic debut at the Los Angeles 2028 edition, Dola sees more opportunity.
"LA has compound too, so we will be looking forward to qualification berths," she said.
Jyothi's experience, Dola said, could prove particularly valuable in helping the younger members of the women's compound team handle the pressure.
"She is cool-headed, never in tension, and shoots freely. Ups and downs can happen, but her experience will definitely help the team. I'm sure she will take the junior players in her wings and take it forward."
LA28 roadmap: More camps, team bonding
The ultimate target remains an Olympic medal, feels Dola who says India must build on its recent progress, put in the "extra" effort and use more training camps to strengthen team bonding ahead of LA28.
"We all always hope for an Olympic medal, and ultimately it all fizzles out at the Olympics and we return empty-handed every time. But after Paris 2024, we went all the way to the bronze medal playoff, where Ankita and Dhiraj lost narrowly in the mixed team event.
"There have been fewer camps of late. Camps help build team bonding, and that reflects well in team events. So if we continue with regular camps after the Asian Games, the bonding will only improve," she signed off.
