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Aiming high
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The 10-year-old is bang on target but could do with more ground support
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Jignas holds promise — Photo: Ch. Vijaya Bhaskar
HE'S HARDLY as high as his recurve bow, but the promise young Ch. Jignas shows is impressive. For all of his 10 years, the youngster's track record in archery speaks for itself - a clutch of gold medals at the state sub-junior and national school level championships.
In his case, size doesn't matter too much, if one goes by his performances or rather his area of operations. Kids in Korea, the world leader in the sport, graduate to the greater distances, once they are finished with school, but this lad has excelled in 30, 40 and even 50 metre competitions.
These achievements have however come at a price. His Korean bow has cost his father, Ch. V. Rajasekhar, a State Irrigation Department Engineer, Rs. 48,000. To sustain his son's sporting pursuit, the parent plans to sell an acre of land in his native Nuzvid, for the sport can be costly. An arrow can cost upwards of Rs. 2,000 !
The labours involved can be lengthy too, his training sessions taking up to six hours each day. After picking up the rudiments from Nishith Das of Kolkata, Jignas hones his skills with Ch. Lenin now. To him, the attraction of archery lies in its being an individual sport. The art seems to thrive in isolation if one goes by the ability of marksmen from the tribal belt to do well.
Jharkhand has consistently produced bowmen of quality as do the adjoining areas. For instance, Ranu, a world junior championship participant, trains at the Gurukul Prabhat Ashram, Meerut. The rigours of this academy are immense, in that she gets to see her parents rarely, sometimes once a year.
The need for a full-fledged academy in these parts is acute. That will give Jignas the grooming in the sport that he badly needs. Also some sponsorship support either from the State or the cricket-crazy corporate world would supplement the resources of his father, so stretched already.
The recent national ranking prize money championships at the Indira Gandhi Municipal Corporation stadium never found the lad far from the action, for his favourites, Limba Ram and Dola Banerjee were in the thick of it. If it hadn't been a senior event and his participation prohibited, Jignas would have tried his hand, said Rajasekhar proudly.
A IV std student of Nalanda Vidya Niketan, Vijayawada, Jignas has trained his sights on the national championships slated for December in Delhi.
A. JOSEPH ANTONY
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