Goa made an impressive start with Subbiksha V.K topping the women’s Compound event while Saurabh Pandey clinched second position in the men’s category on the opening day of Khelo India-NTPC Zonal Open Archery Tournament organised by Amateur Archery Association Goa under the aegis of Archery Association of India at SAG ground, Campal.
Subbiksha V.K had a total score of 685 out of a maximum of 720 points after shooting 72 arrows. Saurabh collected 683 points and narrowly missed out the top rank to Maharashtra’s Ajit Shriram (686).
In all, 16 archers in each category have qualified for the knock-out phase, which will be staged on Friday. Other Goan players to qualify for the individual shootoffs include Suyukta Abhishekil and Shaneli Mariani Cruz in women’s section.
The hosts will also have a presence in the Recurve event as Sharanya Ambre (520) and Monika (520) made it into the top 16 from the qualifying round. Both archers were locked in an intense battle with identical scores from their displays. Over in the men’s category, Shreyans Solanki and Parth Patil also made the cut to make it a promising outing for the Recurve archers.
Maharashtra though has emerged as a hotbed of Archery in the country and their archer Lakhan Bhoi (658) and Sharvari Shende (636) who rule the roost in Recurve men and women respectively on the Day1.
Decorated archer from Maharashtra, Isha Pawar can also surprise the best in the business in the knock-out stage after she qualified in third place in women’s Compound event, on her comeback trail following a long spell out on the sidelines due to an injury.
Earlier, the Director of Sports and Youth Affairs, Arvind Khutkar; President of Archery Association of Goa Kiran Kandolkar, AAAG Secretary Chetan Kavlekar graced the inaugural ceremony. In all five states and one Union Territory representing the Western zone are taking part in the tournament.
