By IANS,
London : Team manager Paresh Mukherjee has said the hype around Indian archers was justified but the athletes should be reasonable with their expectations at the London Olympic Games.
“Hype around the archery team is based on certain logic and reasons. Deepika Kumari is World No.1, Indian women’s team is ranked No.2 and men’s team is ranked fifth in the world,” said Mukherjee during an interaction at the Games Village.
“But everything in sports does not go by statistics. If that had been the case, Rafael Nadal would not have lost to an unknown player in Wimbledon. There are numerous such examples,” he said adding that the Olympics is a different ball game.
Mukherjee said he was confident of the team doing very well in the Games.
“I cannot predict what will happen on the day of play. The previous record has no value on the day of competition. How you play will decide your fate and not the existing ranking or past performance.
“In archery you compete with yourself. Everybody is trying to better his or her previous record. It is battle of the self and here comes the luck factor,” he said.
The archery event starts at the historic Lords just few hours before the opening ceremony of the Games.
Mukherjee said the archers are practising in the Ranking Row field next to the main stadium. From next week the practice session will be held at Lords.
He said the weather is very unpredictable but the archers are getting used to these conditions.
“I am not giving any excuse regarding the weather. It is troubling every team. I am pleased that our archers are adopting to the situation well,” he said.