Archers complain after AFI conducts 12-hour, 15-match trial for Olympic qualifiers

PUNE: Controversies refuse to die on the archery front. In the latest episode, archers participating at the selection trials in Pune have alleged that the Archery Federation of India officials conducted matches continuously for 12 hours on Monday. On the last day of the trials at the Army Sports Institute campus, the archers started shooting at 8 am and were done by 8 pm.
The trials were conducted to pick eight archers from men and women section, who will compete in another trial later this month with 12 others in their respective categories.Top 12 from the 20 archers will then make it to the Indian team, who will then participate in various trials ahead of the Olympic qualifiers. Top-three make it to the international squad.
“There were 16 archers and as the AFI follow all-play-all format, each archer had to play 15 matches in a day. We shot back to back matches and got only 30 minutes break for lunch. The last match got over at 8 pm under the lights, which was not enough for everybody to see the targets clearly,” said one of the archers, who didn’t wish to be named.
An official present at the trials backed the archers claim and said conducting 15 matches in a day was a mistake by the association. “This was a first. Earlier, at the most 12 matches were conducted in a day, but they too were conducted in morning and evening sessions. Making the archers play 15 matches with a small lunch break was poor management,” the official told TOI.
Asked about the hectic schedule and complaints by the archers, AFI’s assistant secretary Gunjan Abrol said the schedule was fixed only after consulting with the archers.
“We wanted to split the matches in two days, but when we consulted the archers, most of them said they have trains or flights to catch on Tuesday morning,” he said.