Asian Games 2023 fallout: Many unimpressed with recurve archery foreign coach, his future to be discussed soon

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In spite of a good show of two medals by Indian recurve archers at the Asian Games 2023 -- not to be confused with the non-Olympic event of compound archery -- Archery Association of India (AAI) officials are soon to meet as the future of foreign recurve coach Baek Woong Ki with the Indian team is up for discussion.

A source close to the team told myKhel that the recurve archers are not happy with their new South Korean coach. They feel the coach is not adequately prepared to deal with the Indian archers and he hardly ever steps in when the chips are down.

His coaching during national camps has also been deemed as being below par. Quite a few archers were unhappy with his coaching methods even before the Asian Games 2023. They felt he spent more time in preparing presentations than coaching on the field.

India's recurve archers impressed in the team events in Hangzhou but have failed to win quotas there and at the World Championships before. Their next chance is the Asian Championships, which will be held in Bangkok from November 3.

A selection trial, to pick the eligible archers for the event, will be held in Sonepat starting Saturday. A meeting of the selection committee of the AAI is also expected to take place following the conclusion of the trials.

AAI officials are aware of problems with the South Korean coach and quite a few officials are not too impressed with the performance of the recurve archers this year. During that meeting, the fate of the South Korean coach will be discussed and it might be possible that the coach is not sent with the team for the Asian Championships.

"We will discuss every eventuality. If we are not satisfied with his performance, we might suggest the name of an alternative coach as well. A clearer picture will emerge after the meeting," a source within the federation told the website.

The archers won nine medals in total- including five gold medals but the yellow metal was won only by compound archers. Recurve archery, which is an Olympic discipline, saw two medals arriving in team events.

The men's team comprising Atanu Das, Tushar Shelke, and Dhiraj Bommadevara lost to favourites South Korea in the final to settle for a team silver while the women's team of Ankita Bhakat, Simranjeet Kaur, and Bhajan Kaur won bronze.

The Asian Games 2023 served as a means of earning Paris 2024 Olympics quota places but none were forthcoming. Despite the two medals, it was once again a concerning show from the individual archers. No recurve archer has won an individual World Cup medal this year and their scores have also been consistently low, which is a worrying sign.

The South Korean, however, is a decorated coach as guided the South Korean women’s team to gold at the London 2012 Olympics. He was part of the Sports Authority of India’s Sonepat centre before being given the role of India's national coach till the Paris Olympics.