Archery news: Deepika Kumari and co. get huge boost thanks to THIS massive development

Archery is yet to find its feet in India with the sport not having a huge fanbase in the country. However, in a major development, the sport is all set to get to its own share of the limelight with the latest deal between World Archery and the Sony Sports Network. With the Tokyo Olympics also all set to take place in a couple of months time, this deal is certainly a good news for the sport of archery.

Archery news: World Archery and Sony Sports Network to continue its partnership

World Archery and Sony Sports Network have renewed their exclusive rights agreement that sees the linear broadcast of international archery tournaments on their network and digital platforms across the Indian subcontinent. The release further states that the new deal runs for the upcoming season, including events on the 2021 Hyundai Archery World Cup and the 2021 Hyundai World Archery Championships. India will host the Commonwealth Shooting and Archery Championships in early 2022.

The agreement sees the sport been given coverage in countries like India, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and the Maldives. Fans can also watch the event on the SonyLIV app. Speaking about the partnership, Prof Dr Ugur Erdener, the World Archery President said that India is among archery’s leading competitive nations. With so many talented archers, it is more a case of when, not if, the team climbs the Olympic podium. He added that the World Archery is proud to partner with Sony to give these incredible athletes the coverage they deserve.

Archery news: Deepika Kumari to lead Women's Archery team in Tokyo Olympics

Recently, the team for the Tokyo Olympics was announced according to which Deepika Kumari will lead the women’s team, while the men's team will be led by seasoned campaigners Atanu Das and Tarundeeep Rai.  As per the report from PTI, after the final selection trials (Trial 3) at the Army Insitute of Sports in Pune, a six-strong squad was named in which three male and an equal number of female archers was selected. 

Apart from Atanu Das and Tarundeep Rai, the other male archer named in the Indian men’s team is Pravin Jadhav, while the women's squad was completed with the inclusion of Ankita Bhakat and Komolika Bari. While the men’s recurve team has already won a quota by winning a silver medal at the 2019 Archery World Championships held in the Netherlands, the women's recurve team will get a chance to earn their quota at the Final Team Qualification event scheduled to take place in Paris from June 18-21.

Speaking about the India Archery ranking, the Men's recurve team are currently ranked 8th in the world, while the Women's recurve team are ranked 15th in the world. Deepika Kumari is currently ranked 9th in the world in the individual recurve women category.

Image: World Archery / Twitter