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Updated: Jul 08, 2015 09:05 IST

India men’s compound archery team forfeited its bronze medal play-off against Italy in the World University Games, 2015 in Gwangju, South Korea. The team of Gurwinder Singh, Kanwalpreet Singh and Aman did not even turn up for the match on Tuesday. The reason given by coach Jivanjot Singh is they had to forego the match because of a broken bow.

“Gurwinder’s bow string broke and none of the archers were carrying a spare bow. So we had to send a guy to the team hotel and get a bow from the girls. We reached the competition venue exactly two minutes after the reporting time but the officials didn’t give in to our request,” Jivanjot said.

An Archery Association of India source however told HT that the boys failed to arrive at the venue because they were out sightseeing. The source also added that the archers could have shared a bow if the situation was that desperate. Interestingly, World Archery, the governing body also confirmed that the team wasn’t present at all.

“The Indian compound men’s team was not present at the start of their bronze medal match against Italy at 10am on July 7, 2015. World Archery rules state that if a team is not present at the start of a finals match then that match is forfeited,” Chris Wells, who is the communication manager of the World Archery, said in an email to HT.

What raises concern is that the act of indiscipline happened when senior India team’s foreign coach Lim Chae Woong and Jivanjot, who has accompanied the team on many major international tournaments, were present at the event.

Rajinder Kumar Sharma, who is the director sports in Punjabi University and part of the official delegation, had no clue about the development. When contacted he first said he was not aware and later reiterated the same excuse which Jivanjot had put forth.