The 21st Asian Archery Championship for the year 2019 was held at the Rajamangala National Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand from November 21-28, 2019 organized by World Archery Asia. India secured second position in the overall medal tally while South Korea topped the list. The third position was obtained by China.
India’s medal count: India obtained 1 gold, 2 silver and 4 bronze medals totalling the medal count to 7.
The highlights of the championships are as follows:
Abhishek Verma-Jyothi Surekha claimed compound mixed pair gold:
Indian archers Abhishek Verma and Jyothi Surekha Vennam won India’s only gold in the compound mixed pair event by defeating Chinese pairs Yi-Hsuan Chen and Chieh-Luh Chen.
Indian archers won 2 silver medals in compound category:
Various events under the compound category in which Indians won silver medals are as follows,
- Men’s team: India’s Mohan Bhardwaj, Rajat Chauhan and Abhishek Verma won silver medal in the Compound men’s team event after being defeated by South Korea’s Choi Eun-kyu, Choi Yong-hee and Yang Jae-won who won gold.
- Women’s team: India’s Priya Gurjar, Muskan Kirar(Madhya Pradesh) and Jyothi Surekha Vennam won silver medal in the compound women’s team event after being defeated by South Korea’s Seol Da-yeong, So Chae-won and Song Yun-soo who won a gold medal.
Indian archers won 4 bronze medals in Recurve category:
In the recurve category Indian archers have won a total of 4 bronze medals, while no Indian has obtained bronze in the compound category. Various events under the recurve category in which Indians won bronze are as follows,
- Men’s Individual: India’s Atanu Das (West Bengal) won a bronze medal in the recurve men’s individual event, after being defeated by Kim Woo-jin from South Korea.
- Men’s team: India’s Atanu Das, Tarundeep Rai(Sikkim) and Jayanta Talukdar (Assam) settled for Bronze medal in the recurve men’s team event, after being defeated by North Korea’s Kim Kuk-song, Kim Sung-hyok and Ri Tae-bom.
- Women’s team: India’s Ankita Bhakat(West Bengal), Deepika Kumari (Jharkhand) and Bombayla Devi Laishram(Manipur) won a bronze medal in the recurve women’s team event, after being defeated by China’s Cao Hui, Long Xiaoqing and Zheng Yichai who won silver.
- Mixed team: India’s Atanu Das and Deepika Kumari won a bronze medal in the recurve mixed team event, after being defeated by Chinese Taipei’s Su Yu-yang and Lei Chien-ying who won silver.
Key Points:
i.Suspended by the World Archery after the national federation failed to adhere to the guidelines in holding two parallel elections, the Indian archers were permitted to compete under a neutral flag. It was done inorder to allow them to compete in the Olympic qualification competition.
ii.Indian archer Deepika Kumari has secured the Olympic quota for Tokyo 2020 Olympics which is to be held in Japan. She secured the quota by winning the individual women’s recurve event in Asian Continental Qualification (ACQ) Tournament for Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at same venue. It is also to be noted that the Indian men’s recurve team had already secured the Olympic quota during the 2019 World Archery Championships that was held in the Netherlands.
Medal by Indians:
| Category | Medal | Name |
| Compound Mixed team | Gold | Abhishek Verma and Jyothi Surekha Vennam. |
| Compound Men’s team | Silver | Mohan Bhardwaj, Rajat Chauhan and Abhishek Verma. |
| Compound Women’s team | Silver | Priya Gurjar, Muskan Kirar and Jyothi Surekha Vennam. |
| Recurve Men’s individual | Bronze | Atanu Das. |
| Recurve Men’s team | Bronze | Atanu Das, Tarundeep Rai and Jayanta Talukdar. |
| Recurve Women’s team | Bronze | Ankita Bhakat, Deepika Kumari and Bombayla Devi Laishram. |
| Recurve Mixed team | Bronze | Atanu Das and Deepika Kumari |
About Thailand:
Capital- Bangkok.
Currency- Baht.
Prime Minister- Prayut Chan-o-cha.
