City archers failed to grab a place in the Indian team that was selected for the World Cup Stage (I) tournament to be held at Shanghai (China) as they did not figure in the top four in both men’s and women’s competitions in the compound segment.
In the National Ranking Archery Tournament that concluded at Tata Academy at Jamshedpur on Sunday, the city archers - Ch. Jignas (now representing Indian Army), Ritul Chatterjee, Jyothi Surekha and Apurvasha Shinde failed to live up to the expectations of their coaches and administrators. In this tourney, archers were selected to represent the county in international events for next three months.
India No. 1 compound archer Vennam Jyothi Surekha finished fifth as she failed to hit the face of the target twice in the competition. Her poor judgement came as surprise as she was known for scoring 9 and 10 points.
Ritul Chatterjee, Commonwealth Games silver medallist, failed to come out with big scores and his partner in the CWG triumph Ch. Jignas fractured his hand in a freak accident thus leaving the competition mid-way. He will be out of action for at least one month and he is being treated at Army Hospital at Pune. “In the recent past no Indian compound team was complete without one of these three archers. It is sad that not one Vijayawada archer will be donning the Indian colour this time,” felt Volga Archery Academy president Ch. Satyanarayana, who accompanied the team.
Many felt that the absence of academy coach J. Rama Rao at the selection tourney proved costly as the archers were denied quality inputs and suggestions. “Instead of an administrator accompanying the team, a coach should have been part of the team,” said a parent on anonymity.
Differences
The simmering differences between Jyothi Surekha’s father V. Surendra and Volga Archery Academy chairman Ch. Satyanarayana has certainly had its impact on the young girl’s performance. Several unsavoury incidents led to Jyothi Surekha ignoring the Volga Archery Academy for practice and preferring a place near Undavalli.
“Now that Mr. Satyanarayana has removed me and Krishna District Archery Association president Velagapudi Ramakrishna from the Krishna District Archery Association, I see no reason in Surekha continuing with the KDAA. Surekha has decided to migrate to Guntur District Archery Association and practise at K.L. University,” said Surendra, who was also an administrator of the KDAA.
