Jayanta, Dola to spearhead Indian challenge in CWG

Kolkata: Olympian Jayanta Talukdar and Rahul Banerjee joined national champion Tarundeep Rai in the Indian men`s recurve team for this year`s Commonwealth Games to be held in Delhi from October 3-14. After the five selection trials held since April, the Archery Association of India today declared a 12-member squad for the mega-event as Mangal Singh Champia, a regular member of the Indian team, missed the cut. Another Olympian Dola Banerjee will lead Indian charge in the women`s recurve category with the team also comprising L Bombayla Devi and promising Deepika Kumari, who is also the national champion. In compound section, national champions C Srither and Jhanu Hansda will lead the Indian charges in the men`s and women`s categories respectively.Exuding full confidence, India coach Limba Ram said they expect to garner at least six out of the eight gold medals up for grabs. "We have a strong side with a lot of experience. With the advantage of home conditions, we should get at least six gold medals with strong hopes in men`s and women`s recurve sections," Limba said. The squads were selected from a total of 64 archers who were pruned to 24 - six in each group - in the core groups` trials held at the Sports Authority of India Eastern Centre at Salt Lake since March 2009. Meanwhile, the AAI also announced an eight-member squad for the Asian Games, which would not have any compound section and each category will have four archers.Squads for Commonwealth Games: Men`s Recurve: Taurndeep Rai (Services), Jayanta Talukdar and Rahul Banerjee (both SPSB); Women`s Recurve: Dola Banerjee, L Bombayala Devi (both Railways) and Deepika Kumari (SPSB); Men`s Compound: C Srither, C H Jignas (both Services) and Ritul Chatterjee (Andhra Pradesh); Women`s Compound: Jhanu Hansda, Bheigyabati Chanu (Jharkhand) and Gagandeep Kaur (Punjab). Squads for Asian Games: Men`s Recurve: Tarundeep Rai, Jayanta Talukdar, Rahul Banerjee and Mangal Singh Champia (Railways); Women`s Compound: Dola Banerjee, L Bombayla Devi, Deepika Kumari and Rimil Biruly (SPSB). PTI