Sonipat, Feb 20: Former world number one Deepika Kumari, who was making a comeback after her maternity break, on Monday failed to make the Indian team for the Asian Games, World Cup and World Championships slated later this year.
The multiple World Cup gold medallist, who finished seventh in the first phase of the trials in Kolkata last month, ended outside top eight in the women’s recurve event to miss the cut in the final leg of the three-day trials, which concluded at the SAI Sonipat here.
On a day of upsets, reigning junior and former cadet world champion Komalika Bari and former national champion Ridhi Phor also finished outside the top-eight, which will be split into two teams for the six big events lined up this year – Asian Games, four stages of the World Cup and the World Championships.
Bhajan Kaur, Aditi Jaiswal, Ankita Bhakat and Simranjeet Kaur completed the top four who will compete in all the premier tournaments this year.
Atanu returns after a year
There was joy for Deepika’s husband Atanu Das as the India number one was back in the team after more than one year.
Last year, Das failed to make the cut in the same trials, which delayed his comeback. Das last played for India in the Tokyo Olympics.
The two-time Olympian finished second behind Army man Dhiraj B, while old warhorse Tarundeep Rai and youngster NeerajChauhan completed the top-four.
Tushar Shelke, Mrinal Chauhan, veteran World Cup medallist Jayanta Talukdar and Indrajit Swami finished between five and eight.
Compound ace Verma out
of first-choice team
There was an upset of sorts in the compound section with multiple World Cup gold medallist Abhishek Verma finishing outside top-four.
The 33-year-old Verma, who is world number nine, finished fifth, which means he would not make it to the first choice team.
In case of “non-performance”, the archers who finished between No. 5 and 8 will get a chance, Indian archery high performance director Sanjeeva Singh said.
Deepika, however, still can make a comeback for her fourth successive Olympics from an open trial for Paris 2024, slated in January next year.
“The door is not closed on her yet, she can compete in the open trials in January in her bid for an Olympic comeback,” Singh said.
If the rescheduled Asian Games in Hangzhou does not take place this year then the national federation will hold a fresh trial for the Asian Championships in the same window of October-November, he added. (PTI)
