With an eye on the LA 2028 Olympics, the Archery Association of India appointed former world champion Dave Cousins of the USA as the chief compound archery coach on Thursday.
Compound archery will make its debut at the LA 2028, where the mixed team event will be contested for the first time.
Dave Cousins is one of the most decorated compound archers in history and the only archer to have won every major World Archery championship discipline, including outdoor, indoor, field, 3D and the World Games.
Cousins will join the Indian archery squad within two weeks ahead of the World Cup Stage 3 in Antalya, Turkiye, next month.
This will be the first international coaching assignment for the 49-year-old Cousins, who enjoyed a competitive career as a compound archer spanning more than two decades. He has previously coached clubs and state teams in the USA.
Cousins is set to have his task cut out after India named a new-look compound squad for the World Cup Stage 3 and 4, as well as the upcoming Asian Games in September.
Asian Games 2023 women’s compound champion Jyothi Surekha is the only experienced archer across the men’s and women’s squads who made the cut through the national trials held in March.
Veterans Abhishek Verma, Asian Games 2023 men’s compound champion Ojas Deotale, Parneet Kaur, Aditi Swami and Prathamesh Jawkar – also members of India’s triumphant campaign in Hangzhou – failed to make the cut.
To ease the transition and prepare the revamped squad, India will conduct a seven-day training camp involving the archers’ personal coaches as well.
India will also hold a preparatory camp in Kurobe, Japan, ahead of the Asian Games 2026, scheduled to begin in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, from September 19.