Archery Association of India elections likely to be held on 9 June after acting president Sunil Sharma withdraws poll notice

Kolkata: Archery Association of India’s elections could be held on 9 June as notified by secretary Maha Singh after the rival faction, led by acting-president Sunil Sharma, withdrew his 26 May poll notice. “Pursuant to the judgment passed by the Supreme Court of India dated 10 May, the elections of office bearers of the AAI, which were announced to be conducted on May 26 in New Delhi, would be rescheduled. Revised election notification will be issued soon,” Sharma said in his letter to the state associations, a copy of which is in possession of PTI. [caption id=“attachment_6025261” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] Sharma, who is believed to have allegiance with the group led by former president VK Malhotra, had sent the election notice without meeting with the court-appointed committee of administrators (CoA), and secretary Maha Singh had termed it illegal and contempt of court. Later, Singh, after a meeting with five of the 10-member CoA, had issued fresh election notification slated for 9 June in Chandigarh. Terming this a victory for them, Singh told PTI: “The notice was after all ‘illegal and unauthorised’. He had to withdraw it. Moreover, he doesn’t have the powers to issue election notice. Polls will be conducted on 9 June as per our notice.” Sharma was not available for a comment. The series of developments came after the Supreme Court’s order to set aside the national body’s election last year and subsequent resignation of its president BVP Rao. It has been a clash of powers between the two factions led by Rao and Malhotra, something that has plunged Indian archery into darkness in Olympic qualification year. Their season began on a bizarre note as the senior archers missed out on the season-opening World Cup stage one in Medellin after missing their connecting flight, leading to a blame game by both the factions. Then at the second stage World Cup in Shanghai last week, the compound archers did not have any coach due to the internal wrangling and they returned empty-handed from the competition.