The incident also damaged the players´ morale and they stopped training for a month. "We were in good form after undergoing tough training but the incident frustrated us," said Pun.[break]
However, the archers slowly recovered themselves and resumed training last month for the 17th Asian Archery Championship and Continental Qualification Tournament for 2012 London Olympics to be held in Tehran, Iran from October 18 to 24.
"We have recovered from the trauma and hope to qualify for the London Olympics," said Pun.
Archers Pun, Jeet Bahadur Moktan, Asim Sherchan and Ramesh Bhattachan will participate in the tournament in individual and team events. Deepak Gurung is the coach of the Nepali team. Nepal Archery Association (NAA) President Laxman Shrestha will lead the team in Iran.
Nepal Olympic Committee (NOC), recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and National Sports Council (NSC) bade farewell to the team amidst two separate functions in the capital on Monday.
NSC Member Secretary Yuvaraj Lama expressed best wishes to the archers. "We can expect Nepali archers to excel in the international arena as it is a cultural sport in some of our ethnic communities," said Lama.
NAA President Shrestha said the association is expecting archers to qualify for the London Olympics. "Our association has not been able to provide all the required facilities to the archers but they are working hard and we are hopeful," said Shrestha.
According to Shrestha, Nepali archers could qualify because tough opponents like top-ranked South Korea, China and Taiwan have already confirmed Olympic berths. "We might still get a tough challenge from Iran for qualification," said Shrestha.
Nepali team had defeated Iran in the 16th Asian Games held in Guangzhou, China last year. The team had also secured bronze medal in the 11th South Asian Games defeating Bhutan during the event held in Dhaka, Bangladesh last year.
Archer Pun had scored 656 points, also setting a national record, in the Asian Grand Prix held in Thailand in 2010. "I hope we all can break the record in Iran," said Pun.
"We underwent very good training sessions for a month and we all hope to qualify for the Olympics," added Jeet Bahadur Moktan.
Archers should score a minimum of 625 points to become eligible to receive wild card entry to the Olympics. "We are not thinking about minimum score only, we want to go beyond that and secure Olympic berths," added Pun.
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