Jayanta Talukdar. Picture by Eastern Projections

Guwahati, Aug. 9: After being named for the prestigious Arjuna Award for 2006, archer Jayanta Talukdar has set his sights on performing well in the forthcoming Asian Archery Championship at Xian in China next month so that he can qualify for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

“I am focussed only on my performance at the Asian meet in Xian. That is the key to my long-cherished dream of competing in the Beijing Olympics. It is sad that India is so far set to be unrepresented in the men’s recurve event in the Beijing Olympics,” the wo-rld number 4 archer said over telephone from Jamshedpur.

However, with the Indian team’s poor performance in the World Championship at Leipzig in Germany and the first round ouster in the World Cup at Davos earlier this year, Jayanta will have to give his best at the national ranking meet at Jamshedpur from August 17 to 19.

These will be the selection trials for the Asian Championships in Xian from September 14 to 19.

Making his international debut at the Junior World Championship in London in 2004, where the Indians won a team silver, Jayanta became the senior world champion and world number 1 in 2006.

He is the first Indian to have won a World Championship gold — at Porec in Croatia last year.

Staging his comeback after suffering a bow wrist injury, Jayanta took part in a national ranking tournament in Pune after a three-month sabbatical. He finished a mere shadow of his former self.

He took time to regain his touch and claims that at present his “performance level has improved.” He has attained consistency during the past few months.