‘Run for Archery', an event in memory of city-based Indian archery coach Cherukuri Lenin, who was tragically killed in a road accident in October last, will be held on February 6, according to Gokaraju Ganga Raju, president of the organising committee.
He told a press conference here on Thursday that the main objective of the run was to generate a corpus to meet the expenses to hire Korean coach Lim Chae Woong, who has agreed to train the archers of the Volga Archery Academy.
Mr. Ganga Raju said that the sudden demise of Lenin had left the archers of the academy in a quandary. “Lenin dedicated his life to nurturing many international archers from Andhra Pradesh, especially Krishna district. The primary aim of the academy is to enable at least one archer from Vijayawada to make it to the Indian team for the 2010 London Olympics, for which the services of the Korean coach are important. We need to pay him Rs. 3 lakh a month to hire him,” he said.
Mr. Ganga Raju said that many international sportspersons like Gagan Narang (shooting), Mukesh (hockey), Gopichand, Saina Nehwal, Jwala Gutta and Chetan Anand (all badminton) will take part in the run.
Muthavarapu Murali Krishna, managing director, Hotel Fortune Murali Park, called upon the people to take an active part in the run and make it a success. “This is a run for a cause. Lenin may not be amongst us today, but we should render a helping hand to make his dreams come true,” he observed.
Nalanda Vidya Niketan correspondent A. Vijaya Babu said that while it was difficult for any coach to produce a national champion, Lenin produced more than a dozen international archers, which was a rare feat.
“Lenin placed Vijayawada on the map of world archery,” he remarked.
N. Murali Krishna, managing director, KIMS Hospital, donated Rs. 10,000, while Samana Moosavi, chief executive officer, Samana Institute of Fashion Technology, gave Rs. 25,000.
Organising committee secretary Velagapudi Ramakrishna congratulated the young archers from the city who won as many as 12 medals in the junior national archery championship held at New Delhi last week. “Ritul Chatterjee, K. Anusha Reddy, M. Chiranjeevi and Jyothi Surekha are among the Indian probables for the junior World Cup championship to be held in Poland,” he said.
The committee will soon set up counters at the IGMC stadium for registration for the run. Vijayawada will also be hosting the 31st senior national archery championship at IGMC stadium from February 5 to 10, the organisers said.
