Volga Archery Academy archers, who bagged three medals — two gold and one bronze — in the ongoing National Games at Kerala, were accorded a rousing welcome on Tuesday.
Amid rhythmic drum beats and chants hailing late Indian coach Ch. Lenin, hundreds of sports buffs and administrators garlanded archers and celebrated their triumph. “This victory is a major one after bifurcation,” said District Sports Development Officer P. Ramakrishna.
The triumph is timely for the academy which is preparing a road map for the 2016 Olympics Games to be held in Brazil. “Vizag lad Biraghi Naidu won gold in the Indian round individual event while 17-year-old Purvasha Sudhir Shinde, the bronze medallist at the Incheon Asian Games, proved her mettle once again by winning gold in the compound individual event. These feats will give the necessary fillip to the archers preparing for the Olympics Games trials,” said academy chairman Ch. Satyanarayana.
He said Naidu, who hailed from Paderu near Vizag, was a natural talent and he will be graduated to recurve segment. “He will be given a special training in recurve and I am sure he will make it to the Indian team,” Mr. Satyanarayana added.
‘Missed the gold
by a whisker’
He said that AP women compound team consisting of Purvahsha, Anusha, Geethika Lakshmi, Jyoshna won the bronze in the team championship but missed the gold by a whisker. “An equipment error cost us the gold medal. Anusha Reddy’s bow developed a snag as the peep went haywire.
She missed a vital shot which affected the team’s prospects in the semifinal,” said team’s coach Ali.
The 22-year-old Naidu tamed the best archers in the fray to win the coveted gold by scoring consistently. He piped Huidom of Manipur and Arun Boro of Assam for the gold.
Satahavana College student Purvasha shot around 145 out of 150 in a consistent manner to outplay experienced archers like Punjab’s Trisha Dev to emerge as champion. “Both the gold medallists will get Rs. 7 lakhs as promised by the State government. The compound team which won the bronze will get Rs. 2 lakh,” said Mr. Ramakrishna.
