Indian Archers miss World Cup due to closure of Pakistan airspace

The Indian Archery squad had to endure a tough time as they were forced to miss the Archery World Cup at Medellin in Columbia due to an issue with their flights. The 23-member group was supposed to board a KLM Royal Dutch flight from Delhi to Amsterdam and from there to Bogota for the event from April 22 to 28.

However, things went out of order when the airlines informed the traveling group that their flight would be delayed by over two hours due to the closure of Pakistan's airspace following the Balakot retaliation by India. This made it impossible for the contingent to catch the domestic connecting flight from Bogota to Medellin, the WC venue.

The domestic flight was scheduled with a gap of more than an hour from the team's arrival at Bogota. As per the plan, the 23-member squad was to reach Medellin by Sunday morning in Indian time. But, the long delay at Delhi forced the Archers' to stay back at the national capital.

Efforts to book other airlines for the archers failed and there was no other possibility for the group to reach the venue before Monday morning. Although the squad to fly was picked about a month back, the tickets were booked at the last minute, as per reports.

This unorganized act from The Archery Association of India (AAI) meant that the players would miss a golden World-class opportunity. AAI could have chosen other ways of foreseeing the delay in flight routes due to Pakistan's airspace closure after February.

The Medellian World Cup was a good preparatory stage for the players ahead of the World Championships to be held in the Netherlands from June. Indian Archers has other vital fixtures too coming up in the form of Tokyo Olympics 2020.

Traveling issues have been a case of concern in Indian sports for some time now. The Indian national football team faced similar issues due to advere weather conditions in Doha last November when they were to play a friendly in Jordan. The All India Tennis Association missed the opportunity to host two events in April due to Pakistan's airspace closure.

Players like Deepika Kumari - ranked 5th in world rankings - missing the event would be a setback for India's high expectations in the future.