Was kept in dark about omission from team event: Tarundeep

Published>Wed, Nov 24 10 10:52 AM

Top archer of the Indian Army, Subedar Tarundeep Rai, says he was kept in the dark regarding his omission from the final team of three in the Indian Archery team at Guangzhou on Monday. Rai, who has been trained at the Army Sports Institute, Pune, alleges he was left out though he was in the top three.

In the team event, Jayanta Talukdar, Rahul Banerjee and Mangal Singh Champia won the bronze for India.

Lt Colonel Abhai Jawa, officer in-charge, Archery, Army Sports Institute, says Tarundeep's omission was unjustified as he was the second best performer in the team of four representing India at Guangzhou.

"I performed to fit in the top three, despite which I was dropped from the event on Monday in which the team secured a Bronze medal. To top it all I was kept in dark regarding my omission and it not formally been communicated to me even now. Till the last moment, I was under the impression I am going to participate in the team event," said Rai, speaking from Guangzhou.

Rai, an Arjana Awardee, represented India at the 2004 Olympics. He has won a Silver in the 2005 World Championships and was part of the medal winning team at the Asian Games, Doha as well at the CWG. "At the selection where archers were supposed to undergo five trials, each of which consisted of 16 shots each of 70 metres, Tarundeep scored second. The CWG team consisted of top three best performers at the selection process and that is how he made it to the CWG team, where he again performed well and was the second best performer after Talukdar. He has been part of the Indian Archery team for Asian Games team at Guangzhou, but I must say his omission simply means the best in the lot did not compete in the final team event," said Lt Colonel Jawa. Paresh Nath Mukherjee, Secretary General of the Archery Association of India, says Singh had not approached him with any such allegation. "He should have come to me first. The teams for the event had been pre-decided. He was selected for the individual event whereas the other three were selected for the team event. They had been in good form of late. It is unfortunate he feels this way," said Mukherjee. Prof Vijay Kumar Malhotra, president, Archery Association of India, adds he was told that Rai could not be selected for the team event as he had not performed well in the trials. "I was not there at the trials, but this is what I have been told," said Malhotra.

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