AAI chief shifts focus; to rope in competent compound coach

Enthused with four medals from the junior Asian Grand Prix Archery Championship, Archery Association of India (AAI) chief Vijay Kumar Malhotra has set sights on the 2014 Asian Games and further improvement in the dicipline by bringing in a "good compound coach".

"I am extremely happy with our performance. Earlier there were only about 25 junior archers to choose from but now there are close to 200 of them. This trend is very heartening for us," Malhotra told IANS Friday.

"Our recurve team have always done well and it bodes well for the country that the compound team have also done well. To further improve we need a good compound coach," he added.

The Indian junior archery contingent returned with a haul of four medals including one gold, a silver and two bronze in the event held at Ulannbaatar, Mongolia July 27-Aug 2.

Malhotra was especially buoyant about the fact that India's chances at the Asian Games had improved drastically after the team's performance.

"It is for the first time in the history of India when compound archers have won four medals. With compound archery being introduced in the Asian Games, our hopes of a good medal haul have brightened," he said.

The AAI chief also confirmed that the appointment of Korean coach Lim Chae Woong, who was earlier with the Army Institute of Sports (AIS), had been done in principle and he would be taking over soon.

"Lim Chae's appointment as the foreign coach of India has been done in principle. We are just ironing out the details with the Sports Authority of India (SAI) and will be announcing the finalised deal soon," said Malhotra.

After the disappointment of the Indian archers at the London Olympics, the country's performance have had a change in fortunes.

The Indian women's archery team defeated China in the recurve event to claim the gold medal at the Archery World Cup in Medellin, Colombia earlier this month.

India also clinched a bronze medal in the compound men's team event to open their account in the Archery World Cup.

"We were very disappointed after the London Olympics. I think our archers had got overawed by the situation. To counter that we have been holding camps regularly to give psychological help to them," he remarked.