Archery Association of India lands in trouble regarding coachesâ selection for World Cup
In yet another controversy in Indian archery, the AAI has picked âwrong coachesâ to travel with the team for the World Cup Stage II to be held from May 6 to 12 in Shanghai. Monali Jadhavâs coach Chandrakant Ilag has written a letter to the director general of SAI regarding the issue.
There is no permanent position of a coach in Indian archery and the Archery Association of India (AAI) has been following a norm of selecting personal coaches of the archers for any event. However, after selecting the team for the World Cup Stage II, the AAI has landed in a controversy as they decided to send Ved Kumar and Kailash in the recurve and compound womenâs sections as coaches. Both Ved and Kailash were active archers and also took part in the National Open selection trials in Rohtak earlier this year.Â
âThey failed to find a berth in the squad so now from back door they are entering the team as coaches. They have no coaching experience. This will shortly result in death of the Olympic discipline recurve archery which is already in a state of decline,â a former archer told PTI.
Chandrakant Ilag, coach of compound woman archer Monali Jadhav has also highlighted the same issue in his letter to the director general of the Sports Authority of India (SAI). He has written that the Indian archers have no faith in the two coaches who have been selected to accompany the contingent for the prestigious event.
âAs per my knowledge, coach of the archer who has been ranked first in the trials should accompany the team. If anything goes wrong in the World Cup who will be responsible. Our archers have no faith in Kumar and Kailash,â he stated in the letter sent to DG SAI on Monday.
The association has also selected Anita Kumari who was tested positive for the use of propanolol beta blocker in her urine sample collected during the Khelo India Youth Games earlier this year. In another controversial issue, the association has not picked the para squad for the upcoming World Championship in the Netherlands in June which will offer quota places for the Tokyo Paralympics in 2020.
âA minimum of a 30-day camp is needed before any major international meet but the team is yet to be picked,â a former archer was quoted as saying by PTI.
Squads
Recurve:
Men: Jagdish Chaudhary, Vakil Raj Dindor, Sukhchain Singh and Chaman Singh; Women: Preeti, Sakshi Shitole, Promila Daimary and Ankita Bhakat.
Compound:
Men: Sangampreet Singh Bisla, Praveen Kumar, Gurwinder Singh and Lovejot Singh; Women: Monali Jadhav, Praveena, Priya Gurjar and Anita Kumari.