NEW DELHI: ON a day when the Indian archery team returned with a world championships silver in the men’s team event, World Archery (WA) delisted Archery Association of India (AAI).
The world body has nullified the two elections conducted by two factions on June 9 and has given them only 40 days to “clean up their mess”. Otherwise, WA will suspend AAI and force athletes to compete under its flag; a doomsday scenario during Olympic qualification time.
That the two factions conducted elections on the same day with blatant disregard for WA’s continued efforts for mediation and disaffiliation threats is what has left AAI in this soup. But voices made by both camps suggest this fiasco will not end quickly. Both camps — one led by Union minister Arjun Munda and another by BVP Rao — laid the blame on the other’s door.
Even though WA has said that it will wait for the Supreme Court’s verdict, AAI have fallen foul of WA constitution. “The Executive Board has decided that there is sufficient evidence that AAI is in breach of Articles of 1.4.2.4 and 1.4.2.5.1. of the World Archery Constitution and Rules and, specifically, the last bullet point of 1.4.2.5.1 Article requiring good governance,” a WA statement said.
IOA peeved
It is learnt that IOA president Narinder Batra is not happy with the WA statement. In a letter to IOA secretary Rajeev Mehta, he questioned why WA is undermining the autonomy of the Archery Body