North East News Agency

Jayanta Talukdar of Assam becomes top-ranked archer in world. The Indian archer has become the top-ranked archer in the world after clinching the individual recurve gold in the just concluded FITA Meteksan Archery World Cup at Porec, Croatia. Jayanta will get a cash award of Rs one lakh from the Archery Associatng the feat.

Hailing Talukdar’s huge effort in the World Cup, in which he defeated two Olympic medallists, well known coach Sanjeev Kumar Singh said the Tata Archery Academy product was now a strong contender for the Asian and Olympic medals.

“I now see him as a strong contender for the Asian and Olympic medals. He is performing consistently and this year he has defeated three Olympic medallists — silver medallist in Athens Olympics Yamamoto Hiroshi of Japan at the Bangkok Asian Grand Prix, Athens Olympics gold medallist Marco Gallizao of Italy (in the semifinals) and silver medallist at the Atlanta Olympics Magnus Petersson of Sweden (in the finals) in World Cup in Croatia,” Sanjeev said.

But, he said, Talukdar had to keep up his performance in the next four World Cups scheduled to be held this year.

“The championship was kind of a mental test for me and I am glad that I have passed it,” said Jayanta after his return from Croatia. “I was up against Athens olympic Gold medalist in the semi final and won the match by a solitary point.

Jayanta is now concentrating on the next leg of the World Championship to be held in Turkey. “I am leading but I still need good outings in the remaining events to end up as top archer,” Jayanta said.

The next World Cups will be played at Antalia (Turkey) from June 9 to 14, El Salvador from June 21 to 28, Shanghai from Septemeber 1 to 5 and Mexico from October 15.

Even after such a huge feat, what is perplexing is the response to Jayanta’s success. Even in his home State, not many people seem to be aware about his achievement. No congratulatory message, no announcements of cash award, which generally follow such achievements, are missing. People, who do not miss any opportunity to protest against neglect, are now neglecting their own boy.

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