Indian archery coach Sunil Kumar, who was part of the Indian contingent at the World Archery Youth Championships in Argentina, has been banned for life for misconduct. The Archery Association of India (AAI) called him back midway through the tournament for objectionable behaviour.
Virendra Sachdeva, an official of the AAI, said that Sunil had hugged a female member of the Great Britain team in Rosario. He was immediately asked to leave the hotel as both the English and as well as the World Archery officials insisted that Kumar be removed from the premises. “An inquiry has also been initiated to probe the incident further,” Sachdeva added.
According to Sanjeev Kumar Singh, a government observer who had accompanied the team described the incident as quite shameful and stated, “We have also submitted a report to the Sports Authority of India and the Federation.”
“This matter is currently under investigation by our member association in India and neither World Archery nor the Indian Archery Association will comment on the matter while it is under investigation,” said Chris Wells in an email correspondence on behalf of the World Archery.
As a practice, the top ranked archer in the team is given an opportunity to name his preference for coach. In this case, Mayank Rawat from Haryana was top ranked in compound event and he had recommended the name of Sunil Kumar. In the event, Indian team won three medals, including gold in mixed recurve junior team event.
