This is the initial time after the 2014 Asian Games when India employed an unfamiliar mentor.
The Indian national federation has hired Olympic gold medalist coach Baek Woong Ki to work with the recurve team, giving the sport a big boost ahead of the 2024 Paris Games.
The South Korean, who led his country to a double gold medal win at the London Olympics in the women’s individual and team events, will begin his time in India with the season-opening World Cup Stage 1 on Tuesday in Antalya, Turkey.
India has hired a foreign coach for the first time since the 2014 Asian Games.
In point of fact, the Archery Association of India (AAI) has also recruited Sergio Pagni, a two-time winner of the Italian World Cup, to accompany the compound team to the Turkey World Cup.
Woong Ki has been given a contract until the Olympics. At first, he was a part of the Centre of Excellence at SAI, Sonipat.
“He has caused India to recurve mentor and will be till Asian Games and afterward the Olympics,” Indian arrow-based weaponry superior execution chief and Dronacharya Awardee Sanjeeva Singh told PTI.
Pagni, a 44-year-old former world champion, had been a part of the compound team since 2018 when he led a training program in preparation for the Asian Games.
The World Cup, which is coming up, will be the first big test for the two of them because India has a new team that is primarily juniors.
The Indian team has a lot of new players, with the exception of the trio of compound archer Jyothi Surekha Vennam, two-time Olympian Atanu Das, and 2010 Asian Games silver medalist Tarundeep Rai.
The well-known Korean would be the one to watch to see if she could bring out the best in the Indian team, without big names like Deepika Kumari, Riddhi Phor, and Komalika Bari because they didn’t make the cut.
All eyes will be on the women’s team, where Aditi Jaiswal will compete in her second World Cup, despite the fact that the recurve men’s team will be the favorite based on Rai and Das’s experience.
The greatest name to pass up a major opportunity in the compound segment is highest-level Indian Abhishek Verma (world No. 13), a five-time World Cup gold medalist and a silver medalist from the World Championship.
In the men’s and women’s compound sections, Rishabh Yadav, Ojas Deotale, Aditi Swamy, and Sakshi Choudhary—all debutantes—will compete.
Men Recurve: B Dhiraj, Tarundeep Rai, Neeraj Chauhan, and Atanu Das; Women who recur: Aditi Jaiswal, Simranjit Kaur, and Bhajan Kaur.
Men in Compound: Prathmesh Jawhar, Rajat Chauhan, Ojas Deotale, Rishab Yadav; Women in Compound: Sakshi Choudhary, V Jyothi Surekha, Avneet Kaur, and Aditi Swamy