Chhattisgarh: Tribal children practising in 'Archery Centre' to bring laurels for country

Jashpur (Chhattisgarh) [India], April 15 : With dreams of hitting a bullseye in the Olympics event, the children and teens belonging from Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) 'Pahadi Korwa' in Chhattisgarh's tribal-dominated Jashpur district are sweating hard for sharpening their archery skills.

Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, with the aim to promote sports, has established an Archery Centre here in the Jashpur district, the state government informed in a statement

"A special attraction of this centre is that children from PVTG are training here. People of this community are particularly residing in forest areas and bows-arrows are a special part of their lives due to which passion towards this traditional weapon could be seen among children," the statement read.

Around 10 children practice for several hours at 'Archery Centre' in Jashpur to sharpen their skills, so that they could ensure their berth in representing India in the Olympics, and bring laurels for their district, state and country, the statement said.

Jashpur Collector Ravi Mittal said that the children are residing here at the centre and getting training from an experienced coach.

"Players from this centre are registering their participation at separate events. Recently, they bagged a gold medal in a national tourney held in Hyderabad. Moreover, the Olympic coach from the biggest archery centre Dharmendra Tiwari and Olympic athlete Deepika Kumari also visited the centre here, praised the players and gave tips to them," he said.

He further said that the players from the centre would soon be taken to the biggest archery centre so that children could avail the benefits available there.

"Few tribes residing in hilly areas of Chhattisgarh are traditionally associated with the bow-arrow. Considering their skills in handling the traditional arms, CM Bhupesh Baghel has announced to open archery centre at every village and on the same move, the centre has been started in Jashpur," he said.

The Collector added, "I am very much confident that the centre here will emerge as a prominent place for archery in future. Players from different districts will register their participation in world-level events and make the country famous."

One of the athletes named Vipin Kumar Bhagat told , "I belong to a tribal family, and archery was an important part of my ancestors' life. Therefore, I decided to opt for archery. Currently, I am learning the technicalities of this game and my dream is to bring laurels to the country.

Another athlete Akash Kumar, who aspires to win a medal for India in the Olympics, said "I became attracted toward archery after seeing my maternal grandfather shooting an arrow using a bow. After spotting my interest towards archery, my parents sent me for archery training in Jashpur. Till now I have played in Raipur, Ambikapur and Kondagaon".

The Sports superintendent Sunil Kumar Nirala said that the archery centre in the district was established one year back and children belonging to PVTG are residing here after clearing the selection process.

"Apart from archery, the children from the tribal community here are being trained for Swimming and Taekwondo. The district administration has ensured the arrangement of coaches for these three games. Moreover, the arrangement of diet is being done by the district administration, he mentioned," he said.

Nirala further informed that the centre has 10 seats for archery and 10 children (8 -14 years) are residing here.