No coach for recurve archers too
NEW DELHI: The national recurve archery squad faces a chaotic situation after leaving for Jakarta without a coach on Tuesday. Of the two nominated coaches, Sawaiyan Majhi and SC Roy, only the former has received accreditation.
Since Roy replaced chief recurve coach Dharmendra Tiwary at the eleventh hour, he hasn’t been able to get an accreditation to join the team in Indonesia. Faced with the unexpected situation, Archery Association of India (AAI), it is learnt, has sent an SOS to the compound coaches - Jiwanjot Singh and Lokesh Chand - to oversee the recurve team in case Roy fails to make it.
“Since compound and recurve competitions will be held at different times, it shouldn’t be a problem for them to manage,” said an official.
AAI assistant secretary Gunjan Abrol said there was no infor- mation on Roy’s accreditation till Thursday but remained hopeful of a resolution. The archery ranking competition starts on August 22.
IOA secretary general Rajiv Mehta said since Roy’s name wasn’t in the initial long list sent to the Games organising commit- tee for accreditation, it remains doubtful whether he would be able to accompany the team.
To further add to the team’s woes, Deepika Kumari suffered from flu earlier this month. She has now recovered and is expected to leave Jakarta on Friday.