Twenty-one-year-old Sk. Harshad lost his leg in a freak road accident at Nandyal (Kurnool District) when the auto in which he was travelling with his family rammed another. Life turned topsy-turvy for him and led him to Vijayawada to explore a new meaning to his amputated life.
Harshad, who came to know about the exploits of Volga Archery Academy, joined the academy and gradually picked up the intricacies of the traditional bow-arrow sport. In a short span of time made his mark in the para archery, a segment for the physically challenged, winning medals in the national level competitions.
Under the tutelage of coaches J. Rama Rao and L. Chandrasekhar, Harshad is preparing for the most important tournament of his life – the trials for Incheon Asian Games – from August 2, as the three-member Indian team will be selected at New Delhi.
“In the preliminaries, Harshad finished fifth in the country. The selection committee will pick three members for the Asian Para Games, which will be held after the Asian Games,” said academy chairman Cherukuri Satyanarayana. Harshad has selected recurve over compound, which is more mechanical, and he is confident of making the cut.
“I am releasing the arrows well and I am scoring nines and tens repeatedly. I hope the weather will support my cause,” said Harshad, who left for the Delhi trials.
Harshad won medals in the Nationals held in 2009 and 2010 and was selected for the world para archery championship at Bangkok in 2011. “He could not take part as there was no financial support for him from both the State and Central Governments,” Mr. Satyanarayana bemoaned.
Harshad, pursuing commerce in SRR & CVR College, is a regular archer in the Krishna University team in the all India universities fixtures. Harshad will be facing competition both from archers in the standing and wheel chair categoriesVijayawada, known for producing several international archers like Ch. Jignas, Purvasha Sudhir Shinde, Mangal Singh, Ritual Chatterjee and Jyothi Surekha was successful in winning Commonwealth Games silver medal in 2010. With Jyothi Surekha and Purvasha earning their berths for the Incheon Asian Games, all eyes are on Harshad to book his ticket to South Korea.
