Trichy :

Coming from a humble peasant family, it was indeed a bold decision for him to take up training in the not-so-famous archery during his school days. The wise decision not only fetched him a gold medal in the national level meet but also bag a bronze medal in the international level tournament proving his mettle. Both he achieved in just a couple of years of practice.

A first year bio-tech student of Sri Math Andavar Arts and Science College, N Elango, 19, bagged bronze medal in the recently concluded first ever Student Olympic South Asian Games held at Thimpu in Bhutan.

Hailing from Sholanganallur village in Nachikurichi panchayat in Trichy, his father Nagarajan is a farmer. However, it was his uncle R Natarajan who noticed his talent and helped him with the basic training and equipment.

“My aspiration to join the police force from my childhood led to develop my interest towards guns and firing. But I was attracted towards archery while watching it in TV,” he said.

Elango, who aspires to become an IPS officer, feels that there is very less awareness about archery among the public. All this two years he had to practice alone as no one in his age group was really interested in the game. “This has never demoralized me. But I realized that I have a responsibility to take up this sport and make it popular by winning Olympic medal for the country,” Elango said.

“The state level archery meet held about six months ago gave me the required confidence to move ahead. I won silver medal in the tournament. Though the competition was intense at the national level meet held in February near Mumbai, I could manage to bag gold medal in the under 19 category. Bagging the first ever national gold gave me recognition in the college, which also sponsored my trip to the First Students Olympic South Asian Games,” he said.

All the three rounds were highly competitive, especially from those who were from Bhutan as it was their national game. But I managed to win the bronze medal, he added. Principal of the Sri Math Andavar Arts and Science College J Radhika credited the achievement to the hard work of Elango and said the college would help more students to take part in such tournaments.

M Rajadurai, national level archer and assistant professor at a city college, trained Elango. He credited Elango’s achievement to his two years of hard work. “There are only five students who get training for archery from me,” he added.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Trichy / by K. Sambath Kumar, TNN / July 09th, 2015