Indian archers stuck in Dhaka after cancelled flights, stuffed into local bus

Indian archers were reportedly stuck in Dhaka for several hours on their way back from the Asian Championships, as their flight was cancelled and their return was pushed back by a full day. With no security escort in the disturbed Bangladeshi capital, they had to make their way to what they described as a “substandard shelter” for the night.

Indian archery team left stranded for hours at Dhaka Airport

Out of the 23-member contingent, eleven archers including two minors, were stranded at the airport for almost 10 hours, dealing with repeated delays and what they called a “total lack of assistance” from the airline responsible for their travel.

The contingent included seasoned names like Abhishek Verma, Jyoti Surekha and Olympian Dhiraj Bommadevara. They arrived at Dhaka airport on Saturday for their 9.30 pm flight to Delhi, only to learn after boarding that the plane had a technical fault and would not be departing.

Their troubles unfolded as the city was gripped by street violence ahead of a special tribunal’s verdict against ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in a case involving alleged crimes against humanity.

With no information coming their way, the women and other team members waited inside the terminal until 2 am. When the flight was officially cancelled, they were told there would be no replacement service that night.

Things deteriorated further once they stepped out of the airport. The group was packed into a “windowless local bus” and driven for nearly 30 minutes to a temporary lodge, which Abhishek Verma said resembled a “Dharamshala.”

"The 'dharamshala' that was given in the name of the guest house was very pathetic. In one room, there were six double beds... There was only one toilet, and the condition of the toilet was very bad," he told PTI.

"It was such that I don't think anyone could have taken a bath there," Verma, who has consecutive Asian Games silver medals (2018 and 2022), alleged.

Their attempts to make alternative arrangements also could not work out, as they could not do any international transactions.

"Personally, we could not manage anything as no international cards were accepted there. We couldn't get Uber because there was an error coming in the payment method... And we were not confirmed about the flight," Verma said.

"Even if we knew we would get it by 11 am in the morning, we would have stayed back at the airport. Because they (the airline) did not confirm anything."

The contingent was caught in further delays after reaching Delhi.

Several archers missed their onward connections to Hyderabad and Vijayawada forcing costly re-bookings and long road journeys.

"Now all the flights were cancelled and the Federation had to bear the cost," Verma said.

"One ticket, Mumbai to Delhi, I think the cost of each ticket is more than Rs 20,000. So if our Federation had to bear lakhs of rupees, whose responsibility is it?" he said.

Verma did not mince words in holding the airline accountable for not supporting the national squad in a difficult situation.

"Your plane broke down, and while you know that riots are happening outside... How did they put us in local transport? If something had happened on that bus, there were three teenage girls. Who would have been responsible?"

"There were seven female members, of whom four were under 20. No, there was no compensation. It's not that they didn't know," Verma alleged.

The nightmarish journey overshadowed India's best-ever show at the Asian Championships, where they topped the medals table with 10 podium finishes, including six gold, three silver and one bronze.

They finished ahead of heavyweight South Korea, which also ended with 10 medals but had fewer gold in its tally.

India had a 23-member contingent in Dhaka, and it travelled in three groups to Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata.

The Kolkata group, which had seven members including Atanu Das, Deepika Kumari and coaches Poornima Mahato and Rahul Banerjee, had no such issue, while the Mumbai batch, which had Maharashtra archers like Prathamesh Fuge and Sahil Jadhav, also reached on time.

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