Archery Association of India factions blame each other
The two factions of the Archery Association of India (AAI) have started blaming each other for the recent controversy in the governance of the sport. The World Archery has also decided to delist the Indian body from the list of its members stating that there is a breach of regulations by the AAI.
The controversy surrounding the AAI is growing day by day. After the World Archery decided to delist the Indian association as its member, the two factions have now started accusing each other for all the fiasco in the sport in India. There are two parallel elected groups with Arjun Munda and BVP Rao at the helms of the two. Secretary general of the Munda-led group Virendra Sachdeva has blamed Rao for the current situation.
“A small group of people have unnecessarily started a controversy by claiming that they have conducted an election of the AAI. These individuals have created confusion among the member state Archery Associations and other world bodies with a view to defer the elections of the Association,” Sachdeva told PTI.
“The Indian Olympic Association has recognised the elections held on June 9 at New Delhi. We are hopeful that World Archery would also recognise us sometime soon. A matter is pending in the Supreme Court and is likely to be listed on reopening of the Court after the summer vacation. We are awaiting the outcome of the matter and will proceed accordingly thereafter.”
On the other hand, as per Rao, the reason behind all these fiasco is former AAI president Vijay Kumar Malhotra. Rao has also requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene into the matter.
“World Archery is fed up with postponements of elections for the last three years. The current crisis of two elections is also a plan of Malhotra to get his henchman Virendra Sachdeva as secretary general unopposed,” said Rao.
“So the buck should stop at Malhotra’s door. I have written to the Prime Minister about it. I only hope the PM intervenes to resolve this crisis in the national interest. The sole reason for this mess is Malhotra’s intense desire to hold on to Indian Archery even after four decades, which delayed the election that was due in 2016.”
Secretary general in the Rao-led group Maha Singh also echoed the same thing as Rao and asked the union sports ministry to take appropriate action in this matter.
“I am wondering who gave him the authority to change the Indian team entries. Let him explain to World Archery. I demand an enquiry by the Ministry of Sports on this issue. If at the end of July there is no clear decision, World Archery will suspend AAI and will not allow any Indian athletes to participate at any world event including the Asian Archery Championships, an Olympic qualification event. The men’s team, who had missed the cut for Rio Olympics, has recently earned three available quota places for Tokyo 2020, while the women’s are yet to secure qualification,” Maha Singh said.
“We have already qualified for the Olympics and now if they suspend the federation then there will be a question mark on India’s participation. Hope better sense prevails and there will be one election,” Olympian Lalremsanga Chhangte mentioned.
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