Hitting bull's eye

Ace archer Jayanta Talukdar on winning the World Cup and the future of archery in the country.

Jayanta Talukdar is certainly not used to the limelight. After winning an individual medal and the World Cup with the Indian archery team, he finds it difficult to speak about himself. As he says, he would rather have his performance speak for him.

“Of course I am proud of my achievement. But I would like to believe that this is just the beginning.” The 23-year-old from Guwahati performed brilliantly, along with the rest of the team, at the recently concluded event at Porec, Croatia.

 

Back in his home state of Assam, Talukdar wasn’t accorded a grand welcome or any special honour. Just a few well-wishers and people from the archery federation turned up to receive him and his fellow archers. Talukdar, though, wants to change that — not the welcome, but the image of archery in this country.

Archery is a sport in which India has traditionally done well at international competitions. Limba Ram brought the sport to the nation’s attention in the 1990s and, ever since, the country has produced good archers on a consistent basis — both men and women.

“As a nation we, have shown in the past that we can compete with the best,” says Talukdar. But he believes that the sport needs a shot in the arm, ideally an Olympic medal. Citing the example of boxing, he says that the interest in that sport has grown by leaps and bounds ever since the boxers did phenomenally well in Beijing. Talukdar wants to be the man to bring glory to his sport and the country, although he says he believes his fellow archers are equally good. “We have a great team, and I believe that we can go and achieve even more,” he says.

Talukdar was schooled in archery from a very young age, following in his brother’s footsteps. “At first I wasn’t too keen to get into the sport, but my parents and coaches thought I had it in me,” he explains.

Living up to that promise, he burst on the scene with some eye-catching performances at the junior level. This is not the first time he has won a gold at the World Championships. In 2006, Talukdar achieved the feat for the first time.

That gold medal confirmed his position among the most promising archers in the country. “It was a special moment for me to win that first medal,” he reminisces. That too happened in Porec. “I guess it’s lucky for me,” he says.

For someone who has been on the national team for over five years now, Talukdar says times have never been better for archery in India. Apart from him, Rahul Banerjee and Mangal Singh Champia have been performing very well, and were part of the World Cup winning team. Talukdar is confident the team will do well in the next stage, as well as in the World Championships to be held in Turkey later this year. “We need to keep working hard and keep our good form in other competitions now.” He says that individual glory is important, but winning as a team is special.

The Arjuna award winner has had to make a lot of sacrifices, including his academic aspirations, in order to concentrate on the sport. But he doesn’t have any regrets. He attained the world number one ranking in the recurve category of archery, and remains the only Indian to do so.

His next target is the third stage of the World Championships, to be held in Turkey in four months. “I will continue to practice hard and, hopefully, repeat my performance” that served him well in Croatia. He says that working under veteran archer Limba Ram, who is the coach of the archery team, has been a wonderful experience. An idol for many of the archers, Talukdar says Ram is more than an inspiration. “He knows the sport very well, is always there to guide you and his experience comes in handy.”

Talukdar is in Kolkata now to train, ahead of the third stage of the World Cup which begins in June. It’s not just about working hard, Talukdar says — “You also need to be mentally strong.” As of now, his sights are trained on the tournament ahead, but his long-term ambition remains success at the Olympics. For the sake of the sport in India, let’s hope Talukdar will continue to hit bull’s eye when it matters the most.