Indian coach Sunil Kumar suspended on charge of misbehaving with England girls' team at World Archery Youth Championships

New Delhi: A coach, who was part of the Indian contingent at the World Archery Youth Championships in Argentina, was called back midway through the tournament for objectionable behaviour. Sunil Kumar has since been suspended by the Archery Association of India (AAI) pending a full inquiry into his conduct. [caption id=“attachment_4152463” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AFP[/caption] Kumar was asked to leave the team hotel and was put on the first plane available back to New Delhi. Multiple sources have confirmed that Kumar, who was sent to assist the compound team to Rosario for the tournament from 2 to 8 October, had misbehaved with the England girls’ team. However, it is unclear as to what exactly happened. The seriousness of the incident can be gauged from the fact that the coach was asked to leave the team hotel after both the English and as well as the World Archery officials insisted that Kumar be removed from the premises. Despite repeated attempts, Kumar could not be contacted. However, in a letter to team manager, Satyadev, Kumar confessed that he was in the wrong. “… mere se kuch bhaari galti ho gyi. Isse sabko dikkat ka samna karna pada. Is ke liye main sabse kshama mangta hu. Mujhe yaha se wapas bheja ja raha hai. Mai sahi salamat ghar jaoonga (I have committed a big mistake and the entire team was disturbed because of it. I want to apologise for the incident. I am being sent back from here…,” he wrote in a letter dated 4 October, 2017, a copy of which is with this correspondent. World Archery, meanwhile, in a terse response, merely said that the matter involving the Indian coach was under investigation. “This matter is currently under investigation by our member association in India and neither World Archery nor the Indian Archery Association will comment on the matter while it is under investigation,” said Chris Wells in an email correspondence on behalf of the World Archery. But AAI was quick to respond. SAI’s tough stance Meanwhile, the Sports Authority of India (SAI) has decided to write a letter to Kumar’s parent organisation, Haryana Police, in the same matter. “We have to make an example out of him. How can he bring disrepute to the country in this manner? So we want his department to act against him too,” said a source in the know of the deliberations.