NEW DELHI: Woman archer Reena Kumari cried foul on Thursday after losing on an Olympic berth to Dola Banerjee and V Pranitha in selection trials and demanded one more chance to prove her potential before the next month’s Beijing Games.
Reena also lashed out at the selection committee and questioned the authenticity of trials conducted by the Archery Association of India to judge the candidates for the two Olympic berths. “The selection procedure is wrong. There is no transparency in the selection trials. All decisions and everything else is being done by (AAI General Secretary) Paras Mukherjee. Archery revolves round him, he is the sole authority,” she said. “Now that Pranitha has been selected, what is the guarantee that she will do well in the Olympics.”
“I want that there should be another trial or else I should be taken back in the team,” she added. The archer said she was asked to appear for the trials even though she had the best ranking after the third leg of World Cup in Antalya, Turkey, along with Dola, who had even failed to make the cut. “I had the best rank of 28, while Dola finished 67 but still I was asked to appear in a trial on June 25 along with Dola for the Olympic berth,” she said.
