India to face tough fight from S Korea, China: TAA coach

India to face tough fight from S Korea, China: TAA coach

Expressing hope that the Indian Archery team would return with a rich medal haul from the London Olympics, the Tata Archery Academy (TAA) Chief Coach Capt Amitabh said the academy had been trying its best to give maximum global exposures to prospective medal winners.

Capt Amitabh said India will face tough fight from South Korea, China and USA in archery events from tomorrow. World Champion Deepika Kumar has been appointed as Manager (sports) by the company recently while former Asian Gold medalist Mahto has been a TAA coach for past several years, he pointed out. to the archers representing India in the London Olympics, Capt Amitabh said Swuro was a TAA cadet between 1997 to 2001 while L Bombyala Devi had undergone training for over a year at TAA in 2007. Similarly, Rahul Banerjee was a TAA cadet between 2002-07 before he joined Tata Steel on contract and continued till 2010, he said adding that even Limba Ram was part of TAA after he joined the private steel major on contract in mid-1995, he claimed. the experienced coaches including the Chief Coach of TAA, Dharmendra Tiwary and Mahto, Capt Amitabh said the coaches provided the best of training to the cadets whether it was their physical and metal fitness, technic or stamina throughout their (cadets) tenure in TAA. He claimed TAA had produced several Olympians including former World champion and Rahul`s sister, Dola Banerjee, V Praneetha, Reena Kumari (women), Sanjeeva Singh, Lalrem Sanga. Asked about the medal prospect of the Indian Archery team, Capt Amitabh said he would not like to make any predictions as all the participants irrespective of their country are best and qualified for the mega sports event. However, the entire country is expecting Indian archery team will bag medals this time keeping in view their consistent performance at international arena, he said. Asked whether TAA has any plan to appoint a foreign coach, Capt. Amitabh said we did not have dearth of good coaches including Tiwary and Mahto while our South Korean coach Lim Chae Woong has worked hard for over one and half year to ensure a Olympic medal. PTI