Amravati: Fresh on the heels of a two-gold, one-bronze haul in the first two stages of the Archery World Cup, the Archery Association of India (AAI) will hold new selection trials at Sonipat starting Friday. The trials will decide India’s men’s and women’s squads in compound and recurve for World Cup Stages 3 and 4, and the upcoming Asian Games.Indian archers returned home just three days ago after campaigns in Mexico (Stage 1) and China (Stage 2). They now face the challenge of defending their spots against a strong field of contenders.India struck gold in the women’s compound team event in Puebla, Mexico, and followed it with a women’s recurve team gold in Shanghai, China. Sahil Jadhav added the lone individual medal — a bronze in men’s compound.With three medals, India stands fifth on the overall tally after two stages. China leads with 11 medals, including five golds. The USA has nine medals with three golds, Turkiye 11 medals with two golds, and Korea five medals with two golds.In Shanghai, India’s recurve women stunned Korea in the semifinals before beating hosts China for gold. Simranjeet Kaur, who was not part of the winning team, impressed in the individual draw, reaching the semifinals before losing to world No. 1 Kang Chae-young of Korea, the eventual champion.The two team golds highlight India’s strength at the top, but the solitary individual bronze exposes a lack of depth. Indian archers rarely reached the quarterfinals in individual and mixed events across the first two stages, raising concerns about consistency.The Sonipat trials promise intense competition. Archers who missed out earlier will look to break into the squad, while incumbents must prove their form again. The schedule includes qualification rounds over the first two days, followed by a round-robin league and eliminations.
