Archers should have trained in Pune, not Kolkata: Coach

NEW DELHI - Indian archers may have won a clutch of medals, including the gold, at the Commonwealth Games, but chief coach Limba Ram feels they could have done better had they trained in the pleasant weather in Pune and not in hot and humid Kolkata.

The most disappointing show was that of the men’s recurve team, the top seeds, who only got a bronze.

The coach said weather conditions make a huge difference in archery. Oppressively sultry Kolkata was hardly the place for the preparatory camps.

Limba also alleged that the food provided to the archers in Kolkata’s Sports Authority of India (SAI) centre, where the camps were held during the past one-and-a-half years, was sub-standard.

We wanted the camp in Pune since the weather there was conducive to practising eight hours a day. It is not possible to concentrate for long hours in Kolkata, especially when you are training outdoors. The gymnasts moved from Kolkata to Pune but we were made to stay in Kolkata, Limba Ram, himself a celebrated former archer, told IANS.

On the food, he said: Initially, the quality was really bad. It got a touch better later, but the diet was far from healthy. This was another reason for us to have moved to Pune’s Balewadi Sports Complex — better facilities.

Ram said the archers should have been in Delhi a month before the Games since the arena is a lot bigger than the site where the team practised.

You need to adjust to the air speed and the surroundings to shoot better. Kolkata weather was a lot more heavier than here.

We also go overseas for competitions during the camps and it is difficult to adjust to different conditions at frequent intervals. As for the Games, we could have planned better, though the unusually over-stretched monsoon disrupted our training schedule.

Paresh Nath Mukherjee, secretary-general of the Archery Association of India (AAI), said the coaching staff never discussed the issue of shifting the camp to Pune.

I am hearing this for the first time. Had I been told of it, I would have certainly looked into the matter, Mukherjee said.

(Bharat Sharma can be contacted at bharat.s@ians.in)