LAUSANNE: World Archery has suspended the Archery Association of India effective Monday 5 August 2019. A previous executive board decision gave a deadline of the end of July for the election situation to be resolved.
No resolution has been reached.
Indian athletes will be permitted to compete in the 2019 World Archery Youth Championships in Madrid, Spain on 19-25 August.
On behalf of the executive board, World Archery secretary general Tom Dielen said: “World Archery is implementing the decision taken in June by suspending the Archery Association of India. The last event in which Indian athletes can participate is the youth championships in Madrid.”
“We will now work with the Indian Olympic Association and Indian government to try to establish a transitory committee, with representatives from all sides, to handle urgent matters.”
“If no long-term solution is found by the end of August, the executive board will decide what can be done to preserve the chances of Indian athletes participating in the Asian Championships and Asian Para Championships. At the same time, World Archery will also decide whether individual athletes can participate in the Indoor Archery World Series.”
The 2019 Asian Archery Championships and Asian Para Championships are critical as they will award quota places to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
India has three men’s places secured for the next Olympics but has yet to win a women’s spot.
Tournaments on the Indoor Archery World Series, held from November to February, are open to all athletes rather than just national teams. Normally, archers must be a member of a national federation in good standing to register.
PTI adds:
In two separate elections, held simultaneously on June 9 in New Delhi and Chandigarh, AAI elected two presidents — Union Minister Arjun Munda and BVP Rao. Munda had support of 20 state associations while 10 state bodies backed Rao.
World Archery had sent a representative, Kazi Rajib Uddin Ahmed Chapol, as a mediator and observer for the elections but could not get both the factions to agree to a common election.
The Sports Authority (SAI) of India is now conducting trials for the upcoming Asian Championships in Sonepat and will announce the squad on Friday.
“Nothing is happening for us for last eight years. There has been no planning whatsoever. First, we were told that this will be for the Asian Championships and now after reaching here we were told that they are picking the squad for the Olympics as well,” an unnamned archer said from Sonepat.
“Many senior archers have failed to come for the trials so does it mean that they would miss out on the Olympics selection? There has been no planning whatsoever.”
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