Talukdar disqualifed in individual Recurve

Jamshedpur, Nov 9 (UNI) In a major setback to the Indian archery team, world cup gold medallist Jayanta Talukdar was disqualified by the judges in the quarterfinal of men's 70 meter Recurve event in the 2nd Commonwealth Archery Championship at J R D Tata sports complex here today.

The judges Neil Demmock of England and J Ban Ary of Israel disqualifed Talukdar for lifting the bows above the shoulder level while he was competing with Australian Chris Lewkowski.

Talukdar was given first warning after shooting three arrows. But as he continued to flout the rules, the foreign judges gave their decision against the top Indian archer.

The Inidan team, however, failed to lodge protest within the specific timelimit (five minutes) and the judges upheld the decision.

However, amdist the bad news in the Indian camp, there was a good news when Jayanta equalled the world record of 347 points, set by Korean archer Choi Young Kwang in 2002, before the judges gave the verdict.

Reacting to the decision of the judges the Indian archery coach Dharmendra Tiwary alleged that Jayanta was 'targetted' and the judges have done it in a pre-planned way.

He said how an International archer like Jayanta, who took part in so many championships, could make such an error.

Terming it a major setback for the Indian team, Arjuna Awardee and former India coach Sanjeeva Singh said the judges pronounced the decision, taking the advantage of the extisting rules. He said this had been the first time that an Indian archer had been disqualified in an international event.

He, however, said the incident would not have adverse impact on the Indian performance and Jayanta would take part in the team event.

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