But AAI’s continued defiance of National Sports Code, resulting of their suspension by sports ministry since 2012, have robbed Indian archers of that home advantage
On Wednesday when Indian archers won two silver medals in the ongoing Asian Games in Jakarta, they were caught in a Catch 22 situation.
On one hand, they wanted to celebrate their hard-fought medals amidst a tough Asian field but then they were also heartbroken after hearing the news that World Archery Asia (WAA), after its meeting on August 27, decided to snatch the rights away from India for hosting 2019 Asian Archery Championship and instead award it to Thailand’s capital city — Bangkok.
China and Bangladesh were also in line to host the tournament.
This blow came days after Archery Association of India (AAI) received a letter from the World Archery (WA) that “it is in process of suspending India from all the international competitions as the parent body has failed to conduct elections as per prescribed norms for many years now.
It must be mentioned here that WA had sent a letter to Indian body on July 26, but because it was felt that suspension could well affect the performance of Indian archers it was decided to dispatch the final letter only after the closing ceremony of the Games.
Indian archers were obviously elated about having Asian Archery Championship at home (Delhi) in November as it was also to have doubled up as an Olympic qualifier for the Tokyo’s 2020 Olympic Games. But AAI’s continued defiance of National Sports Code, resulting of their suspension by sports ministry since 2012, have robbed Indian archers of that home advantage.
Moreover, Delhi event was to be held soon after the World Archery Championships in Holland, which obviously meant back-to-back opportunity to book berths for Tokyo Games.
Case in HC
AAI’s problems started in 2012 when Vijay Kumar Malhotra was re-elected its president despite ministry’s guidelines to abide by sports code.
And when Malhotra finally decided to handover baton in 2015 following pressure from the Delhi High Court also, court-appointed former chief election commissioner S.Y. Qureshi drafted the new constitution and held new elections where Tarlochan Singh was elected president while Anil Kamineni got to the secretary’s post.
AAI was hopeful after elections that govt would lift the suspension but there has not been any progress in this regard till date.
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