Ritul Chatterjee, the Varanasi-born teenage archer who has made Vijayawada his second home, has delighted the archery administrators of Krishna district and the State by finishing fourth in the core probables competition for the Indian compound team that will take part in the Commonwealth Games to be held at New Delhi later this year.
Ritul hauled 5529 points at the trials held at Kolkata’s Salt Lake Stadium last month to finish behind C. Srithar (Services Sports Control Board), Palton Hansda (Indian Railways) and Jayantilal Ninoma (Rajasthan), who took the first three places.
Crucial contests
“These four archers have almost sealed their places in the Indian team. There is a final selection competition in August. I am sure Ritul will continue his dream run to earn the Indian cap for the Commonwealth Games,” said Krishna District Archery Association president Ch. Satyanarayana, at a press conference on Tuesday.
Coach Ch. Lenin said that the forthcoming tournaments, such as a Grand Prix tourney in February in Malaysia and an invitational Commonwealth Games competition in New Delhi in July, were crucial for Ritul, as the performances in these events will be taken into account for the final selection for the Indian team. “Ritul took part in the Kolkata trials held for five days in 70-metre distance. The competition in the Commonwealth Games will be held in only one distance, which is 70 metres. The Archery Association of India made the archers shoot their arrows for 16 times in five days and selected the best four archers,” Mr. Lenin explained.
Ritul, 13, came from Uttar Pradesh and joined the Volga Archery Academy last year. He is studying Class IX at Viswa Bharathi Vidya Niketan, Patamata. With his hard work and commitment, he began winning medals for Andhra Pradesh by winning the mini sub-junior national title and later won a bronze in the sub-junior segment. He also represented India in the youth world games and helped the country finish fourth in the compound division. This is not the first time that the city has produced an international archer. Top archers like Olympian Mangal Singh Champia, Ch. Lenin and Mandava Rishitha, who won medals in the world, Asian and National competitions, emerged from here. Administrators of the sport acknowledge the contribution of the VMC to the development of the discipline, as it has allotted an exclusive archery field on Mahanadu Road to enable the young archers to hone their skills under the watchful eyes of their coaches.
