India’s junior archers may have made the country proud by winning three medals including recurve mixed team gold at the Youth World Archery Championship in Argentina earlier this month, but a misconduct by a member of the coaching staff resulted in a major embarrassment for the contingent, according to reports.
Compound team coach Sunil Kumar was sent back home from the championship after a British Archer complained against him for inappropriate behaviour, and has since been suspended by the Archery Association of India.
According to AAI treasurer Virendra Sachdeva, Kumar hugged a female member of the Great Britain team in Rosaria, Argentina, which didn’t go down well with the world governing body and England team officials. “An inquiry has also been initiated to probe the incident further,” Sachdeva was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.
Kumar was the personal coach of Mayank Rawat of Haryana. “There’s a code of conduct of the World Archery and based on the reports we have suspended the coach,” AAI secretary general Anil Kamineni was quoted as saying by PTI. “We have sought all the reports from the (international) federation and the (Britain) team,” he added.
This is not the first time that India’s officials or administrators have been accused of such misconduct. At the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Indian Olympic Association Secretary Rajeev Mehta was arrested for alleged assault on a staff member at the guest house he was staying. Wrestling referee Virender Malik also faced sexual assault charges. The cases, however, were eventually dropped after diplomatic intervention.
In 2009, Kings XI Punjab team owners Mohit Burman and Ness Wadia were beaten up by police and private security staff during an Indian Premier League game Johannesburg following an altercation with a lady in the VIP box.