Indian archer Abhishek Verma last week won bronze at the mixed event Archery World Cup in Shanghai with partner Jyothi Surekha Verma. Winning a medal at the World Cup is not an easy task, and thus everyone assumed Verma would be a happy man.
However, a flustered Verma is far from happy. The compound archer wants to switch to rifle shooting so that he can win an Olympic medal, his ultimate dream. Verma is thinking of making the switch became compound archery is not an Olympic sport. Compound archery is not even featured in the Commonwealth Games. It last featured at the 2010 CWG.
Recurve is the only category in archery that is recognised at the Olympics. Compound is seen as a fringe discipline, relegated to the Asian Games, South Asian Games and World Cups.
“Every athlete aspires to represent India at the Olympics. As a compound archer, this hope will never be realised. Somewhere at the back of my mind, I would like to try my hand at rifle shooting. I have never tried it at any stage of my life. But I feel the mentality of an archer is similar to that of a shooter. It’s all about handling the pressure of shooting that perfect 10… let’s see,” said Verma in an Indian Express report.
Verma is willing to put down the bow and arrows so that he can represent India at the Olympics someday. The 28-year-old has been in archery for 16 years already and is gearing up for the Asian Games in August and three Archery World Cups. However, the focus is on the Asian Games.
“We have three more World Cups lined up, but all our energies are focused on the Asian Games. This is our Olympics,” said Verma.
