Koneru Lakshmaiah University vice-president Raja Hareen on Thursday said that special efforts were made to offer seats to talented youngsters pursuing sports and cultural activities and congratulated international archer Vennam Jyothi Surekha for her recent exploits at the Senior World and Youth World championships at Turkey and China respectively.
Speaking at the felicitation function, he said that the university had spruced up quality sports infrastructure, including a gym for girl students and as many as 20 coaches were appointed to impart training to the students. “Though we are on par with China as far as population is concerned, our neighbours have always excelled in Olympics. We need to identify and encourage talented sportspersons like Surekha. Careers can be made out of sports also,” he pointed out. Jyothi Surekha, as a teenager, excelled at the Senior World Archery Championship at Antalya, Turkey by finishing fourth in the mixed team and 9 at the individual segment.
Later she flew to Wuxi at China to take part in the World Youth Archery Championship and won bronze medals in mixed team (partnering Ch. Jignas) and girls’ team championship. In the senior Asian championship at Chinese Taipei, Surekha occupied fifth place in the individual and fourth in the team championship.
Surekha will be concentrating on her first year engineering exams in the coming weeks and later she is planning to visit United States of America to train under Reo Wilde, one of the best compound archers in the world. “Before the Asian Games in 2014, I would like to train under Mr. Wilde,’ Surekha added. University Chancellor G.L. Datta, Vice Chancellor Sreehari Rao, Dean Habibullah Khan, Assistant Registrar M.S. Suman, Head of Physical Education Department Kaleemullah were present.
