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August 7 - Indian archers fear losing their home advantage at the 2010 Commonwealth Games after next month's Asian Grand Prix was moved out of New Delhi due to venue delays.

 

 

The archery competition will now be held in the Eastern city of Kolkata from September 16 to 19.

 

 

Indian archery officials, however, are worried their team would now lose the opportunity to familiarise themselves with wind conditions and other environmental factors in the Delhi venue that will be used for the Games next year.

 

The early stages of the archery are due to be held at the Yamuna Sports Complex with the finals to be held at India Gate (pictured), one of the largest war memorials in India which commemorates the 90,000 soldiers of the British Indian Army who lost their lives fighting in World War One and the Afghan Wars.

 

Vijay Kumar, the President of the Archery Association of India (AAI), said: "How do you expect our sportspersons to do well when some of the venues would be handed to us a month or two before the Games?

 

"Indian archery team doesn't enjoy the benefit of home ground as Yamuna Sports Complex is not ready for preparations.

 

"Government is lagging way behind their actual schedule.

 

"Let's hope archers will get at least six months for preparations otherwise blame will be put on Association if [they have ] not performed.

 

The shifting of the competition follows other international events, such as the World Badminton Championships starting in Hyderabad on Monday, which were moved from the Indian capital due to the slow construction of venues for the Games.

 

The Commonwealth Shooting Championships, due to be held in Delhi in October, have also had to be moved because the venue for 2010 is not ready.

 

Officials, however, have said they are now confident of completing work on the venues ahead of the Commonwealth Games, which are scheduled to open on October 3, 2010.

 

Archery is one of India's main hopes for success at the Games.

 

The recurve team is ranked second in the world while Jayanta Talukdar is currently among the world's archers.

 

But Kumar claimed that not enough has been done to help them prepare for the Games in Delhi.

 

He said: “You need infrastructure for them to win medals.

 

"You need to give them facilities.

 

"Unfortunately, there won’t be any home ground benefit at all for our sportsmen for the Commonwealth Games.

 

"Had the stadium been ready two years ago, as is the norm, they would have trained properly and done better at the Games."