National archery | Top stars slated to appear as they target the Olympics

Dhiraj of India during the men’s recurve finals during the Hyundai Archery World Cup Finals 2023 on September 10, 2023 in Hermosillo, Mexico.
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Olympic qualification berth winner B. Dhiraj, Tarundeep Rai, Tushar Shelke, Ankita Bhakat and Simranjeet Kaur will be among the top recurve archers to be seen in action in the National archery championships starting at Ayodhya on Saturday.

Dhiraj, with support from the Mission Olympic Cell, is set to train in Korea after the National championships. He will fine-tune his skills at the Kim Archery School.

Besides Dhiraj, prominent recurve archers who have competed through the hectic calendar will also look to maintain consistency with less than a year to go for the Olympics.

Ankita Bhakat in action in the Individual girls recurve semifinal round in the 39th Senior National Archery championship at Barabati stadium in Cuttack on March 11, 2019.
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BISWARANJAN ROUT

Top archer couple Atanu Das and Deepika Kumari, who had entered their names, have travelled to Korea to train at the Hyung-Tak Archery Training Centre in the run-up to next year’s Paris Olympics.

Bhajan Kaur is another leading archer who will skip the event.

In the compound division, the seasoned V. Jyothi Surekha will be missed.

World champions Aditi Swami and Ojas Deotale apart from Parneet Kaur, Avneet Kaur, Abhishek Verma and Prathamesh Jawkar are among the well-known archers who will make the compound competitions stiffer.