The first stage of 2020 Archery World Cup to be held next month in Guatemala City, where 16 Indians were to compete, was on Thursday cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tarundeep Rai, Jayanta Talukdar, Kapil and Dhiraj Bommadevara were to take part in recurve men while Baria Premilaben, Himani, Ridhi, Tisa Sancheti were to participate in recurve women in the World Cup scheduled to be held from April 20 to 26.

Vedant Wankhede, Sukhbeer Singh, Mohan Bhardqaj, Harsh Parashar were the compound men archers who were to represent India in the meet while Trisha Deb, Muskan Kirar, Markoo Raginee, Ashu made up the women's compound team.

"The first stage of the 2020 Hyundai Archery World Cup in Guatemala City has been cancelled due to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak. It was due to be held on 20-26 April," World Archery said in a statement.

"Restrictions from the Guatemalan government on the hosting of large events, quarantine policies and bans on international travel from certain countries made organising the first stage of the international circuit untenable."

The world body said, "opportunities to reschedule or replace the event later in the year are being investigated".

However, given the current situation, any decision will be made at a later date.The event in Guatemala had no direct qualification implications for the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Story Credit : Firstpost