Dubai, Feb 23 Top Indian archers, including Harvinder Singh and Shyam Sundar Swami, launched their campaigns on a strong note as the 7th Fazza Para Archery World Ranking Tournament got underway with the qualification rounds here on Tuesday.
Singh, an Indonesia 2018 Asian Para Games gold medallist, qualified in the third spot in men's recurve open with a score of 607, finishing one place ahead of 2019 Asian Para Championships gold medallist and compatriot Vivek Chikara who finished with 603 score.
Swami qualified in the second place in the men's compound open with a score of 681 same as the top finisher Serhiy Atamanenko from Ukraine. Atamanenko took the top ranking owing to more numbers of 10xs 15:13 to Swami's.
Singh was happy to be in the shooting line after a long time. But he said "the condition was difficult today with the swirling wind making the shooting tough in the morning".
"I didn't get my desired result today. We should have got more practice sessions to be adjusted to the wind here. It should be the same for everyone shooting this morning here," said Singh who had achieved one of his career best scores at these championships previously.
"The wind definitely made the condition tough. I was expecting a better score than this. I will try for the Gold medal," said Shyam Sundar.
Among the top players, Iran's London 2012 Paralympic champion Zahra Nemati who finished in top position in Recurve Women's Open ranking round with a score of 620 was happy to return to competition after a long time.
"In regard to my preparation for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, this is a very important competition and the score is good to start with. But I faced difficulty with the wind. I hope I can come out with better performance tomorrow."
Meanwhile, Slovakia's former world No.1 Marcel Pavlik admitted that he was "little nervous" to compete after a long time.
"It's after one year that I was competing. The lockdown was not good as I couldn't train much and had to stay home. I am happy to compete again internationally and this competition will serve as preparation for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. The target definitely is to win the Gold again," said last year's champion who qualified third with 677 score in men's compound open.
The championships will be played over four days with the finals to be played on Thursday and Friday.
( With inputs from IANS )
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