Indian archers miss Asia Cup before continental championship

Before the Tokyo Olympics qualifiers to be held in November the Asia Cup would have served as an ideal platform to the archers to prepare for Asian Championship, which will be held from November 21 to 29.

Hyderabad: Indian archers' preparation for the Tokyo Olympics qualifiers suffered a huge blow due to the ongoing mess in the de-recognised Archery Association of India (AAI) as the existing situation prevented them from participating in the Asia Cup world ranking tournament to be held in New Clark City, Philippines.

The Indian team was to compete in Stage 3 of the tournament that will be held from September 10 to 15. Though Sports Authority of India conducted selection trials in Sonepat on August 7 and 8 the continuous mess at the AAI means archers will miss another tournament.

Before the Tokyo Olympics qualifiers to be held in November the Asia Cup would have served as an ideal platform to the archers to prepare for Asian Championship, which will be held from November 21 to 29.

Archer Deepika Kumari at Rio Olympics 2016.

Meanwhile, there is also no certainty about Indian archers' participation in the Asian para championship which will be held in Bangkok from October 19 to 26. This tournament would be served as a qualifier for the Tokyo Paralympics.

India have to submit names of their archers to World Archery by September 25, but there has so far been no talk about trials in this regard.

World Archery suspended the Indian federation last month but it allowed the de-recognised body to select the Indian team till the World Youth Championships, which took place in August.

Meanwhile, it formed a 'transitory committee' to holds selection trials and nominate teams for future international events.

In the backdrop of this development, the Delhi high court appointed retired judge Justice BD Ahmad as the committee's chairman. Making situation worse IOA challenged the Ahmad's appointment in the Supreme Court, citing Olympic charter that doesn't allow any outside interference.