No room for Korean coaches, setback for Indian archery

Kolkata, April 8 (IANS) The Indian archery team has done well in the first stage of the ongoing World Cup competition, but its preparations for the next two stages has been affected because the Sports Authority of India (SAI) has refused accommodation to two coaches from South Korea who are here to oversee the selection trials.

Archery Association of India (AAI) secretary general Paresh Nath Mukherjee said Tuesday that the Korean coaches Chae Hong Gi and Lee Wong Wee 'have been denied accommodation at the SAI Guest House since Monday'.

Indian archers bagged one gold and three bronze medals in the World Cup (Stage I) at Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) Sunday.

The Korean coaches are here to oversee the selection trials and name the Indian contingent for Stage II (in Porec, Croatia) and III (in Antalya, Turkey) and for the second Asian GP at Tehran.

The trials are beginning Thursday with 64 probables and 16 more archers, who did well at the junior and senior Nationals.

National coach Limba Ram feels such disruptions will lead to a drop in performance in the upcoming World Cup events. 'Such things can have a bearing,' he said.

Mukherjee accused the SAI authorities of 'not addressing the accommodation problems faced by the archery campers'.

'The available rooms are overcrowded and some of them have been forced to stay outside the SAI campus, which again leads to logistic problems. All these are happening even after the steering committee meeting with sports ministry officials in New Delhi on March 25 approved the arrangements,' Mukherjee said.