AAI dismisses Reena Kumari’s unfair selection trial claim

Archery Association of India has lashed out at discarded archer Reena Kumari for claiming that the Olympic selection trial was not fair.

The Archery Association of India (AAI) on Tuesday lashed out at discarded archer Reena Kumari for claiming that the Olympic selection trial was not fair.

Lambasting her “illogical” claims that the third selection trial in Kolkata, where she finished fifth and thus missed the Beijing cut, the AAI General Secretary Paresh Nath Mukherjee said her claims were a “big joke”.

“The chapter is now closed. Irrespective of her (Reena Kumari’s) claims that Sports Minister M S Gill will look into it, Reena Kumari has no chance to qualify for the Beijing Olympics. This is the high drama and a big joke of Indian sports,” Mukherjee said from Kolkata.

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Reena, who represented in the Athens Olympics in 2004, claimed that the third selection trial in Kolkata in June, was not fair.

Claiming that she stood first in Meerut and Kolkata trials in May, Reena Kumari said, “I was first told by AAI that I had been selected for the Olympics. But AAI decided to have another trial in Kolkata last month. I was not aware that this was the final selection trial.”

Veteran Dola Banerjee and rookie Vardhineni Pranitha qualified in the final selection trial in Kolkata and joined L Bombayla Devi and Mangal Singh Champia in the Beijing-bound archery contingent.

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