There’s a lot of interference from previous group, says AAI secretary
Archery Association of India (AAI) secretary Maha Singh has said that there is a lot of interference from the previous group, led by Vijay Kumar Malhotra, which ran the association till last year. The association had appointed Kailash and Ved Kumar as compound coaches for the World Cup.
It looks like there is no end to the controversies in Indian archery as there are reports that no coach will travel with the Indian archers for the upcoming World Cup. The association had selected Kailash and Ved Kumar as compound coaches but the issues are deepening further which has forced the Indian team to travel for the World Cup without a coach.
After archer Monali Jadhav’s personal coach Chandrakant Ilag wrote a letter to the director general of the Sports Authority of India (SAI) regarding the anomaly in the coaches’ appointment, Kailash’s name was struck off of the list. The sports ministry, after that, had approved Titomas Sharma’s name. However, Sharma will also not be able to travel for the tournament to be held in China as the Chinese embassy is closed for Labour Day holidays till Monday, the day when the tournament begins. On the other hand, Ved Kumar’s passport renewal took more time than what was expected and he will not be a part of the contingent as well.
The AAI secretary has blamed the Vijay Kumar Malhotra-led faction, which ran the body till 2018 end, for the discrepancies in Indian archery in last few weeks.
“In the history of archery, this has not happened. There’s a lot of interference from the previous group,” AAI secretary Maha Singh told PTI.
Speaking about the appointment of the coaches and the allegations surrounding the issue, Singh pointed out that Titomas Sharma has not attended the camp for even a single day. The secretary also spoke about Kailash saying that he was one of the toppers in a technical seminar for compound coaches.
“He (Kailash) was one of the toppers in a technical seminar for the compound coaches in the USA. We thought of giving an opportunity to an upcoming coach. What’s wrong in that. He has got three Services players. We believe in giving everyone a fair chance. They are Services coaches and maintain discipline that’s the main reason. Can you believe the team is going without any coach now? Chinese Embassy is closed for five days. Nobody is going now. Kailash’s name was struck off at the last minute and Titomas was included,” the secretary explained.
“They are full of lies. Their main objective is to create a hurdle at the last moment so that we end up on a losing note.”
However, Maha Singh is expecting that the issue surrounding Ved Kumar’s passport will be sorted sooner. When Ved Kumar as asked about the same, he replied, “I had submitted my application more than two weeks back but as there was a change in my address, it took longer than usual.”