SAI yet to rule on archery coach

The Archery Association of Indias (AAI) plans to install Ginger Hopwood as the new compound coach in place of Australian Peter Feeney...

The Archery Association of Indias (AAI) plans to install Ginger Hopwood as the new compound coach in place of Australian Peter Feeney is still hanging in the balance as the Sports Authority of India (SAI) is yet to take a final call on Feeneys termination.

The International Sports Department under the sports ministry has already given its nod to AAIs request to terminate the Australians contract. Now the SAI has to act, AAI secretary general Paresh Nath Mukherjee told The Indian Express.

The slide in the fortunes of the compound team had forced the association to take this extreme step. Before this,they had withdrawn the compound team for the Archery World Cup,which is currently going on in Shanghai.

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The delay by the SAI to take a final call means the association cannot conclude negotiations with Hopwood,who is based in the US. I cant confirm the details of our negotiations, Mukherjee added. Meanwhile,AAI has deputed sports analyst Shashi P Sharraf and physiotherapist K Nita to work with the core group of archery probables for the Commonwealth Games.

India finish third in World Cup

Dola Banerjee and Rimil Buriuly helped India finish third in the womens recurve team event at the World Cup archery (Stage IV) FITA round at Shanghai on Thursday. The Indian trio of Dola,Rimil and Pratima Boro totalled 3974 to finish third,behind Korea (4100) and Russia (4007). India will next face 14th ranked Kazakhstan in the first round of the team elimination on Saturday.

Rimil was easily the best archer for the Indians as she garnered 1344 points to capture the sixth spot,while Dola scored 1331 to finish 11th. Pratima aggregated 1299 to lie 31th,while Reena Kumari was one place behind her at 32.

Rimil shot 334 points over the 70m distance and was placed second behind Korean Yun Ok-Hee (336). The Korean,however,set a world record in the next distance 60m with a score of 353 to better the previous record of 351 set by Kim Yu-Mi in 2004.