Sixteen-year-old Kumkum Mohod performed consistently well to emerge as the top archer in recurve women’s section at the first selection trials on the Sports Authority of India campus here on Friday.
Hailing from Amaravati (Maharashtra), Kumkum, who finished third in the elimination phase, collected an overall 13.5 points over three stages to pip Olympian Ankita Bhakat, the elimination winner, by 0.5 points.
Persuaded by her coach Prafull Dange to skip the National School Games in Ranchi in order to compete here, Kumkum, who made her international debut in the Asia Cup Stage-1 last year, got rewarded for her strong work ethics and hunger for success.
“I visualised winning the trials,” said Kumkum, who got a sponsorship offer from OGQ during the trials.
Simranjeet Kaur and Deepika Kumari were tied on 12.75, but the former won a shoot-off to be the third.
Olympian B. Dhiraj (14) and World University Games gold medallist Sahil Jadhav (13.75) claimed number one positions in recurve and compound men’s sections respectively.
Despite losing the elimination final 147-148 to Tejal Salve, V. Jyothi Surekha (15.25) was the best among compound women.
The top-four will compete in World Cup stages in Mexico (April 7-12) and China (May 5-10). The top-16 will compete in the second selection trials following which archers will be picked for the next two World Cups, in Turkey (June 9-14) and Spain (July 7-12), and the Asian Games (September 19-October 4).
The team: Recurve: Men: B. Dhiraj, Atanu Das, Yashdeep Bhoge, Tarundeep Rai; Women: Kumkum Mohod, Ankita Bhakat, Simranjeet Kaur, Deepika Kumari.
Compound: Men: Sahil Jadhav, Ojas Deotale, Kushal Dalal, Abhishek Verma; Women: V. Jyothi Surekha, Madhura Dhamangaonkar, Aditi Swami, Pragati.
