Deepika Kumari, Tarundeep Rai Back Archery's Return at 2030 CWG

Elite Indian recurve archers Deepika Kumari and Tarundeep Rai have expressed optimism about archery's inclusion when India hosts the Games. When India last staged the event in 2010, 17 disciplines were contested, with the host nation winning a significant medal haul in shooting (30), wrestling (19), archery (8) and badminton (4).

Deepika, who won India's first-ever women's individual recurve gold at the 2010 Delhi Games, reflected on the milestone's impact on her career and the sport's popularity.

The 2010 Commonwealth Games was a huge kick in my career as a 16-year-old, who became a champion in a discipline not so popular. I did not understand the value of the achievement at that time, but in my opinion, archery received a huge boost due to that. A lot of Indians got to know about the sport of archery after my accomplishments in the Commonwealth Games. Apart from that, Indian citizens also got educated about many disciplines which they could witness from close quarters as the country staged the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi," Deepika told SAI Media on the sidelines of the NTPC National Ranking Archery Tournament at the Yamuna Sports Complex in Delhi.Deepika believes the upcoming Games can surpass previous standards.

"The way we had organised CWG in 2010, I believe it will be bigger and better in 2030, and archery makes a return then. We archers have not competed in the multi-nation event since the Delhi edition, and hopefully archery makes a comeback," the 31-year-old added.

Tarundeep Rai, a bronze medallist in the men's recurve team event at CWG 2010, highlighted the long-term impact of hosting major events on grassroots participation and infrastructure. The three-time Olympian, who is targeting a medal at Los Angeles 2028, noted the exponential growth of archery in India.

The 2010 Commonwealth Games were a very exciting moment for me. I witnessed a huge transformation in the archery community thereafter. There were changes in terms of infrastructure and individual strength in terms of skills and knowledge. At that time, we had around 400 archers in the country; now the number has swelled to more than 30,000 active archers. 100 archers can make it to the Indian team on any given day due to their consistency and form, which is a huge difference after the 2010 CWG," Tarundeep told SAI Media."India is set to host the CWG in 2030, which is a very happy moment for all Indian sportspersons like me. I feel that if India could host an event of this magnitude or stature every five or 10 years, that would make a huge difference to the sports ecosystem. Due to the staging of CWG in 2030, a lot of new talent, new kids will pick up sports as a career," he added.

Olympian, Asian and Commonwealth Games medallist Jayanta Talukdar also expressed confidence in India's future performance.

"A lot of new academies and players got added after the 2010 CWG as parents saw that we had won a lot of medals in archery. The Archery Association of India and players started getting a lot of sponsors. So, the graph of Indian archery only improved after that. We will be hosting the 2030 CWG and I am confident that our performance will be great whether it is recurve or compound as there is a lot of motivation when you are competing in front of your home crowd. Also, many top archers like me are already mentoring or coaching a lot of young archers who will be ready to take on the world by then," Jayanta Talukdar told SAI Media.

- ANI