Chennai: Excited to see their little daughter Aaradhya Vedwan obsessed with toy plastic bow she owned, archers Khudeep Vedwan and Abhilasha decided to buy her a professional bow.
It was her parents’ dream to see her emerge as a national-level archer. One-and-a-half years later, their dreams came true. Since she got the professional bow, the little girl would not part with it. She would hold it while eating or sleeping and play with it endlessly.
Her parents would take her regularly to the grounds where she would watch them get trained. She would run around and pick the bow each time she saw it hit.
Guru Hussaini recognised the spark and encouraged her parents to allow the child shoot.
“Guru would initially hold her hand and help her. It was difficult as she would run around after each shot. When tired, she would eat and sleep at the training ground itself,” said her proud mother.
“He was very supportive. Not only did he encourage our child, but he also pushed us to send her for the nationals,” she said. “She performed really well, winning 41 points, which is remarkable for a baby of her age,” said the doyen.
Inspired by his interest in bows, parents of six-year-old Anoop Skandha took him to the trainer. “The instant he entered the training class, Anoop started picking up all the bows. It was very difficult to get the bows from him. I saw the spark immediately,” added guru.
“Three days before the nationals, the guru felt that Anoop should take part in the under ten category which was being held for the first time. Since then he would train for hours together. He saw my son’s interest in the compound bow (which is a very complex machine) and trained him to use it,” said the father of the child, Ashwin Kumar Iyer.
“Though the compound bow is extremely heavy for a child, Anoop managed to make his country proud by being the youngest archer in the world to use it,” said Hussaini. His talent was recognised and he was given a gold medal, he added.
