Sanjeeva Singh, the Sports Authority of India's (SAI) high performance director, is confident about the Indian archery team's medal chances at the Paris Olympics. The official's statement comes amid a raging debate over the denial of accreditation to Korean coach Baek Woong Ki for the event. The foreign coach lashed out at the Indian Olympic Association after he failed to secure a ticket for the event and blamed the body for “poor and hasty administration”.

Indian archery team heads to Paris Olympics without coach

Dhiraj Bommadevara, Pravin Jadhav, Tarundeep Rai, Deepika Kumari, Bhajan Kaur and Ankita Bhakat are the six Indian archers who have qualified for the Paris Olympics. According to PTI, SAI HPD Sanjeeva Singh expressed confidence that the Indian team would bring home three medals.

Korean coach disappointed by sudden setback

Coach Woong Ki reacted strongly to his exclusion just before the Paris event. After guiding South Korea to two medals in 2012, the Korean was appointed India coach a few years ago. He also said that his presence at the Paris Olympics would boost the Indian team's chances of winning medals.

“I am a Korean coach who signed a contract to prepare (Indian archers) for the Paris Olympics. But at a critical moment, I was relieved of my duties as an Olympic coach and my flight schedule forced me to return home,” the renowned coach told PTI.

“I coached them (Indian archers) for two years to win a medal in the Paris Olympics. However, foreign coaches were excluded due to poor and hasty administration by the IOA. I don’t know why they invested money to appoint a Korean coach. More importantly, this is reaching a major level just days before the Olympics,” Woong Ki said.