NEW DELHI: Archery Association of India conducted its online executive committee meeting on Thursday. They discussed plans to restart the national camp and the national calendar. All senior office-bearers, including president Arjun Munda, were in attendance.
The main roadblock with regards to national camps is current travel restrictions. Transit via hotspots will need to be removed. Tata Archery Academy in Jamshedpur and SAI Sonepat are still the front-runners, and Pune will not figure on the list. “It is imperative for the national camp to start as soon as possible. Sports ministry is in touch with us and we are tentatively targetting July. One among Jamshedpur or Sonepat will be chosen,” a senior AAI official said. Interestingly, the AAI has not been asked to furnish SOPs by SAI, like other federations.
The domestic calendar is a tricky prospect. After the new regime took charge, prospective venues for different age-group nationals and the senior edition were identified. Quite a few states verbally agreed to conducting the events. But things have changed.
Maharashtra was set to host sub-junior nationals. Since the state is now a hotspot, there is no chance of the same happening. Principal sponsors NTPC will not release funds before the calendar is finalised. Most likely, the formulation of the latter will be delayed further.
“The main issue is that no state is ready to take up the burden. That is completely understandable. Certain states that were ready previously are not in a position to conduct the tournament. Local organisers will also find it difficult to rope in sponsors. We are trying to come up with a tentative plan in the coming days.”