The first of the four World Cups will be held at Santo Domingo in Dominican Republic from April 1 to 5 and the second at Porec in Croatia from April 15 to 19.

The contingent will have three coaches and a manager. The team leaves this evening for Chennai en route to Paris and to Santo Domingo.

The contingent has three reigning National champions in Rahul Banerjee and Laishram Bombayla Devi (both recurve) and Namita Yadav (women’s compound).

The team also includes Dola Banerjee who won the World Cup finals at Dubai last November and the fourth leg of last year’s World Cup at Dover (England). The Dover triumph enabled her to qualify for the Dubai World Cup finals where she won the title and $20,000 as prize money.

Jayanta Talukdar, who won the men’s recurve title at Porec in 2006, is also in recurve side. Talukdar, who missed the World Championship last year owing to an injury and poor form, regained his place in the Indian squad that participated in the 15th Asian championship at Xi’an in China.

It is significant to note that the first Meteksan World Cup in Latin America will provide the archers the first opportunity to compete in a World-class field in the Olympic year.

The newly elected secretary general of the AAI, PN Mukherjee, told mediapersons at the SAI, Eastern Centre, that despite the absence of Asian archery superpowers South Korea and China, the 300-odd archers confirmed to compete at the first World Cup would have all the best known names of Europe and the Americas.

“It is always difficult to predict the outcome of the first World Cup as because all the archers are going to an international competition after a long break. The Indian contingent is well prepared and there is every reason to look forward to an encouraging performance,” he said.

The recurve teams will have a new coach in Lee Wang Woo of Korea.

The world-renowned coach, engaged by the Mittal Champions Trust, will add weight to the team’s campaign. Apart from Lee, the contingent will have Sanjeeva Singh as manager, Richpal Singh and Purnima Mahato as the other coaches.

The Indian contingent: