Finishing fourth among top 32 archers in the country in the 37 National Junior Archery Championship is no mean achievement. For the administrators of city’s Volga Archery Academy, the feat by the 16-year-old Tella Ravichandra made them realise that they are on the right track in their preparations for the 2016 Rio Olympics.
A victim of Karamchedu carnage in 1985, Ravichandra impressed several coaches from across the country with his consistent performance. “Certainly Ravichandra is one of the talented new faces for the future,” said Dharmender, a senior coach from Tata Academy from Jamshedpur. “His family faced the wrath of a carnage involving two castes in Prakasam district. This Satavahana College student joined the academy at the age of nine and since then he is patiently punching the targets. His ultimate aim is to qualify for 2016 Olympics in Brazil,” said Cherukuri Satyanarayana, chairman of the academy.
Ravichandra defeated Jagbir Singh (Delhi), Bhil Raysingbhai (Gujarat), Indrachand Swami (Steel Plants Sports Board) and Akhil Choudary (Jharkhand) on his way to semi-final clash with Assam’s Dhaniram Basumatary, in which he lost 2-4. In the bronze medal playoff match, Ravi wilted under pressure to bow out to Tanmay Malusare of Maharashtra 1-7 “He was under tremendous pressure. No one expected Ravi to win over several top national archers to reach the semi-finals. He should learn the big match temperament,” felt his coach L. Chandrasekhar. After reaping several successes in compound segment, Volga Archery Academy is going all out to win slots in the Indian recurve team for the 2016 Rio Olympics .
