Legendary coach Kisik Lee to now train Indian archers

New Delhi: India has brought on board legendary South Korean coach Kisik Lee – the man credited with shoring up the fortunes of USA and Australian archery – at a huge salary of $24,000 (Rs 21 lakh approx) per month till the Los Angeles Games 2028. This is the costliest-ever appointment of a foreign coach in the history of the country’s Olympic sports.TOI has learnt that Lee, who was the head coach of USA recurve archery until recently, will coach the Indian recurve archers, overseeing both the junior and senior programmes, with an annual pay package of Rs 2.4 crore. Lee will replace his compatriot Baek Woong Ki, who resigned as the head recurve archery coach after the Paris Olympics last year.Lee’s name was proposed by the Archery Association of India (AAI) with an aim to fulfil the country’s long-held aspiration of securing an Olympic medal in the sport, particularly after the disappointing performances by recurve archers across several editions.After AAI’s recommendation, the Sports Authority of India’s (SAI) officials held zoom meetings with Lee to discuss his plans for India. It’s been learnt that Lee has sought threemonths’ time before coming to India. His arrival isn’t expected before SeptOct. It would mean Lee won’t be joining the recurve archers ahead of the World Archery Championships in South Koreafrom Sept 5 to 12.According to AAI sources, Lee’s actual in-hand salary without taxes would be $20,000 (approx Rs 17 lakh) with a provision of certain percentage increase every year. It’s been learnt that while SAI would bear a majority of his salary cost, some part of his pay cheque would come from the National Thermal Power Corporation, the supporting partner of Indian archery.Australian Turner as HPD: With compound archery set to make its debut at the LA Games ’28, the AAI has decided to appoint Australian coach and former compound archer Robert Turner as the Indian archery’s highperformance director (HPD).