Asiad gold medallist Abhishek Verma's Asian Championships fate hangs in balance after father's death

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After their spectacular Asian Games 2023 showing, India's archers are now busy with the selection trials in Sonepat which is being held to select the team for the 2023 Asian Archery Championships, set to be held in Bangkok.

India's most famous compound archer Abhishek Verma, who had won one gold and a silver in Hangzhou, lost his father on Tuesday and was forced to leave the selection trials midway.

The selection trials are being held to select four recurve archers among both men and women and three from the compound section as both Ojas Pravin Deotale and Jyothi Surekha Vennam have already qualified via their Asian Games 2023 individual gold medals.

Due to Verma's absence from the final two days of the trial, other compound archers are likely to topple him and make the squad but that might not mean guaranteed selection.

According to a source present in Sonepat, the top 15 archers in the compound trials, all wrote to the Archery Association of India to consider Verma for the Asian Archery Championships despite his failing to complete the trials.

But the final decision will rest with the selection committee of the AAI and they will have an emergent meeting regarding whether to include Abhishek Verma or not after the conclusion of the trials on Wednesday.

If the decision gets ratified, it will mean only two male compound archers will make it through the trials and this highlights the respect the 34-year-old commands among his peers. The Arjuna awardee has been flying the compound flag for India for over a decade.

Whether any controversy will follow remains to be seen. Also whether Abhishek Verma, himself, will be ready for the event which starts from November 3 also remains to be seen.

He was instrumental in Team India's team gold at the Asian Games 2023 where he inspired the team to victory against heavyweights South Korea in the final. Having lost to them in the previous iteration of the games, he was adamant that nothing but gold would suffice.

"I had kept the hurt alive in my mind for five years. Since I was part of the team that lost to South Korea in the last edition, I reminded my team that we could not falter this time around and that our aim was not just to get revenge but to go after perfection. I'm glad we managed perfect scores when it mattered and it feels great to win gold again."

He followed it up with an individual silver, losing the final to Deotale but was praised by everyone for his dedication and drive.