Archer Vishwas slams federation after early defeat
JAKARTA: Indian archer Vishwas has slammed the Archery Association of India (AAI) for not backing him enough after losing the pre-quarterfinal of recurve individual event on Thursday. His 1-7 loss to Kazakh Ilfat Abdullin sparked a tirade from the veteran who accused AAI of never treating him as priority.
“When there are no expectations of a medal from us then what can we do. They don’t have focus on us. If they did they would have sorted out everything before we came here. I never felt myself as the priority player in the team,” said Vishwas, who won bronze at 2006 Doha. “It keeps you pinching all the time even when you are aiming for the target. It’s really humiliating.”
Barring Atanu Das, the other three archers in the four-member men’s recurve squad, including Vishwas, Sukhchain Singh and Jagdish Choudhary are not in the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS). Procuring equipment too has been an issue. Despite Army’s full support, Vishwas hasn’t been able to get new equipment as Army has a process through which all requisitions are done. A brand new set costs more than ~3 lakh, including the bow and a dozen arrows. “Since 2017, I am shooting on a borrowed limb from Deepika Kumari, whereas the handle for my equipment was given by someone else,” said Vishwas.
Meanwhile, AAI acting president Tarlochan Singh refused to accept there was any shortcoming. “We give full support to our archers in terms of training, exposure etc. and there was no lacking on our part. I was expecting Vishwas to win a medal this time, but he missed out.”
ANKITA GOES DOWN
In the women’s singles semi-finals, India’s Ankita Raina will have to be content with a bronze
NATRAJ 6TH, KHADE 8TH
Srihari Natraj twice bettered his national record in the 200m backstroke with timings of 2:02.97 in the heats and 2:02.83 in the final, but could finish only sixth. Virdhawal Khade finished last in the 50m butterfly with a timing of 24.48 in the final.
INDIA FACE JAPAN
Defending champions India will face their first real test when they take on Japan in a Pool A men’s hockey match on Friday. It has been a cakewalk for India so far as they demolished Indonesia 17-0 and Hong Kong 26-0 earlier.
SONIA IN BOXING LAST-8
World and Asian silver-medallist Sonia Lather (57kg) got a bye to the quarters as the boxing draws were revealed. In the men’s draw, Shiva Thapa (60kg), Amit Panghal (49kg), Mohd Hussamuddin
SINDHU, SAINA WIN
PV Sindhu had to dig deep to beat Vu Thi Trang of Vietnam 21-10, 12-21, 23-21 but Saina Nehwal did not break sweat to oust Iran’s Soraya Aghhajiagha 21-7, 21-9 in the first round of the women’s singles badminton.
BEDI T-2 IN MEN’S GOLF
Aadil Bedi carded 3-under 69 to be tied second behind Japan’s Keita Nakajima after Round 1 of men’s golf. Rayhan Thomas (71) and Kshitij Naveed (73) helped India to second spot in team event with a total of 213. In the women’s section, Diksha Dagar (71), Sifat Sagoo (75) and Ridhima Dilawari (77) kept India in 9th spot.