India's archery team is mired in fresh controversy just a day after their chief coach was sent back home due to accreditation issues preventing him from accompanying the team to the Paris Olympic Games 2024. A new allegation has surfaced claiming a physiotherapist with a questionable past was accommodated within the team at his expense. (More Sports News)
The Indian archery team is facing a leadership void as both Chief Coach Baek Woong Ki and Dronacharya awardee Sanjeeva Singh could not find a place in the contingent's support staff.
A shocking revelation has emerged within the Indian archery team. Despite facing allegations of inappropriate behavior towards a Canadian teenager at the previous year's Youth World Championships, physiotherapist Arvind Yadav has been included in the team's support staff, replacing the absent chief coach and high-performance director.
According to a PTI report, a top official from the Archery Association of India confirmed the controversial decision.
India had won a historic haul of six gold, one silver and four bronze medals at that event.
"As per the complaint from the World Archery competition manager Thomas Aubert, Yadav had made an inappropriate approach to a Canadian teenager on social media," the official told PTI.
"The Canadian coach reported this to the WA, who in turn raised the complaint with AAI. Federation called an ethics committee meeting and dismissed the matter saying the 'inappropriate approach' to the teenaged Canadian archer was a 'normal hi, hello'," he revealed.
Yadav, when reached out, rejected the charge altogether.
"It's a conspiracy to malign me. Nothing of this sort has happened. Why didn't AAI take action against me then? Also, the archers could have objected to my appointment," Yadav ytold PTI.
The AAI source claimed that Yadav is very close to the body's secretary general Virendra Sachdeva.
A top AAI official expressed concern over the physio's consistent presence at major events. They pointed out that while the physio wasn't part of the team during last year's Asian Games, he mysteriously reappeared for the Rio Olympics and is now included in the Paris Olympics contingent despite facing allegations.
The official further revealed that the physio joined the national camp three months before the event and was provided with accreditation. They questioned the AAI's decision to include the controversial figure, suggesting that the spot could have been allocated to the Korean chief coach, who was specifically hired for the Olympics.
"Why are you taking this up? Let's not talk about it. Let's not create another controversy now," Munda told PTI when asked about Yadav's inclusion and the incident last year.
Munda insisted that it's the archers who "wanted him" to be a part of the support staff.
"This is somehow a tricky decision which depends on the players' comfort and whom they want in the team and the federation gives priority to that. AAI doesn't interfere in this, we don't want to force someone in the team," said Munda.
AAI Blames IOA For Coach Accreditation Failure
The AAI allegedly accused the IOA of turning down their multiple pleas to include Singh and Woong Ki in the Indian contingent. The IOA had been firm in their stance of limiting the official delegation to four members for the six-person team.
"IOA set a yardstick and despite all our requests they didn't accept one more accreditation.
"I spoke to PT Usha personally requesting her to include... The IOA should have fought for it. It is beyond my logic why they are not allowing one official in AAI whereas many officials are accompanying in other federations," Munda added.
Coach Woong Ki left for India on Saturday and made it clear that he would not stay beyond August 30, when his contract ends.
