Kolkata:
Down after a string of poor show, Olympian Jayanta Talukdar, striving hard to recapture his rhythm and insisted he is not yet out of gold-contention in the World Cup final to be held in Copenhagen on September 26.
Talking to
PTI before leaving for the Champion of Champions leg of the World Cup, the Tata Steel archer exuded high confidence that he would pick at the right time with a little bit of luck.
"I am not reading, introspecting much into my poor performance in the World Championship (in South Korea) and Asian GP here. Shooting in World finals is different from that of other championships. I am sure I will get my rhythm back there," Talukdar, seeded No 1 for the World finals, said.
A triumph in Denmark will make Talukdar the second Indian after Dola Banerjee to clinch a gold in the World final.
Dola had won honour in Dubai two years ago.
The Guwahati-born archer logged the maximum number of points (45) from the four stages of the World Cup to become the lone Indian entry for the final.
He will take on Italian fourth seed Marco Galiazzo, who has a dismal 0-3 record against the Indian.
"I have a clean record against Galiazzo, but you never know in archery, where an arrow makes a difference. You need little bit of luck as well," Talukdar, who had finished fourth in 2006 World final, said.
In the other semi-final, Simon Terry of Great Britain will take on Romain Girouille of France.
"Against Terry and Giouille, I have lost on earlier occasions. But you cannot pick somebody favourite in archery," said Talukdar, who had a dip in form after World Cup Stage-IV in Shanghai.
"I was not in my best during the World Cup Stage-I but then I picked form in the Stage in Croatia. It happens in archery, let's see what Copenhagen has in store for me," he said.
India had bagged one team gold in World Cup Stage-I (Santo Domnigo); one individual gold (Talukdar) and one men's recurve team gold in Stage-II (Porec); and one men's recurve team silver, individual bronze (Talukdar) and women's recurve bronze in Stage-III (Antalya) and they did not get any medal at Stage-IV (Shanghai).
Talukdar returned empty-handed in the World Championship (Ulsan) and the recently-held Asian GP here.