New Delhi, June 24: World Archery (WA) on Friday announced it has pushed for the inclusion of indoor compound events at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games, a move, if accepted, could be a “game changer” for India, hoped High Performance Director of the sport in the country.
Currently, the Olympics only have recurve events in the sport.
The high-scoring compound events which are played indoors as well as outdoors, are part of sports programmes of the Asian Games, European Games, Pan American Games, World Games and World University Games but not the Olympics.
“The proposal from World Archery is for an additional indoor archery competition for men, women and mixed teams that would last approximately three days, shorter than the current nine-day Olympic schedule,” the WA stated.
“Competing over 18 metres and indoors, in comparison to the 70-metre outdoor recurve format, would clearly differentiate the two events while building on the successful professional indoor archery circuit that is already well-established in the USA, the host nation of the next Games after Paris 2024,” it added.
The request will be assessed by the International Olympic Committee, alongside submissions from other sports, before a final decision is made.
Indian archery high performance director Sanjeeva Singh hailed the world body’s decision, calling it a “game-changer” for India who are yet to win an Olympic medal in the sport.
“Our compound archers are going very well and in six years’ time the current junior lot of Rishab Yadav, Prathmesh Fuge and Jawakar, Kundera, Priya Gurjar, Parneet Kaur, Aditi, Pragati and Sakshi shall be fully ready and poised to win an Olympic medal,” Singh said.
“This maybe a game-changer for Indian archery and open up archery in a big way in school and colleges where there is paucity of space and also time constraint of studies.” Compound is a modern bow style invented in the 1960s that uses a system of pulleys and cables, along with release aids and magnified scopes, to increase the bow’s speed and accuracy. Compound competition emphasises precision, tension and perfection.
It has featured at the World Archery Championships since 1995 and on the World Cup since its launch in 2006. (PTI)
