KOLKATA: Atanu Das, Pawan Xalxo and Hemanta Basumatary combined to

15/07/09

Sporty India updated

KOLKATA: Atanu Das, Pawan Xalxo and Hemanta Basumatary combined to give the Indian junior men’s recurve team the second position in the team qualification of the 11th Youth World Archery Championship at Ogden, Utah (USA), on Monday.

According to information received here on Tuesday, the junior men’s recurve team’s showing was the only notable performance from the 29-member Indian contingent at the championship. The action there was dominated by Korea in recurve and the host United States in compound categories of the junior section.

Atanu Das of Bengal, now with Tata Archery Academy, came up with the most convincing show in the individual section. He stood fifth overall in the individual qualification with a total of 1294 points after each archer shot 36 arrows over four distances — 90, 70, 50 and 50 metres — for a total of 144 arrows.

Pawan Xalxo of Jharkhand was placed overall 10th with 1279 points while Hemanta Basumatary of Assam was 28th with 1249.
The three combined to tally a total of 3822 points that earned India a creditable second place in the team qualification ranking behind Korea (4018). India will take on 15th ranked Kazakhstan in the first round of team elimination.
Indian archers, expected to do well in the recurve bow section, were in for a shock with the junior women finishing 14th out of 16 teams.

The three — Balemai Hansda (1224), Seema Verma (1210) and Sumita Kumari (1187) — ended 38th, 44th and 53rd respectively.
India’s first round opponent will be third placed Ukraine.
Korea (4040), China (3950) and Ukraine (3837) were the top three teams.
Overall seventh
Indian junior men’s compound trio of Arjun Rao (1330 points for 24th poisiton) — Ksh. Nikon Singh (1317, 31st) and Sanjay Swansi (1313, 34th) — earned India an overall seventh position with a total of 3960 points.

USA topped the field with 4072.
India will play 10th ranked Belgium in the first round.
The junior women’s compound team came last in a field of five teams.
Priyanshu Kachhap (1297, 21st), Asrita Kerketta (1292, 22nd) and Kiran Majhi (1254, 24th) gave India a total of 3843 points.
The competition continues on Tuesday with the qualifications for recurve cadets men and recurve cadets women, followed by compound cadets men and compound cadets women.

The competition has drawn as many as 450 archers from 60 countries.
The most important aspect of the championship is that it serves as the main qualifier for the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games. Those who qualify from the Youth World Archery will compete again in a separate competition on July 17 to identify the Youth Olympic Games qualifiers.