Understanding the impact of the bow style in LA28 on compound interest in India.

• India’s compound archery, a discipline with a strong bow style, received the green signal for its debut in Los Angeles 2028.

• The country’s success in the bow style, including medals at the World Championships, World Cups, and Asian Games, has led to hopes for an Olympics podium finish.

• Recurve archery, which began its formal journey in India with the formation of the Archery Association of India (AAI) in 1973, has bagged four medals in the World Championships.

• In the compound discipline, the first National championships were conducted in 2004, and the Indians have collected 11 Worlds medals.

• The compound bow, invented in the USA in the 1960s, is a mechanised equipment that works faster and is more accurate.

• The compound mixed team event joined five existing recurve events in the Olympics last month, raising medal hopes for India.

• Despite producing several top recurve archers, India has not been able to open its account in the Olympics.

• Seven top compound archers have been inducted into the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS).

• The development of fair treatment for practitioners of the bow style is a key element for India’s compound archers.

• The AAI and the Sports Ministry need to support Indian compound archers pragmatically and help them shine in LA28 and the Games beyond.