From Rajnagar to Rashtrapati Bhavan: it will be a journey of pride.
Gora Ho, a 15-year-old archer from Seraikela-Kharsawan district, will travel more than 1,300km from his Balijuri hamlet home in Rajnagar block to New Delhi to receive a pat from none other than the President himself.
Golden boy Gora - a cadet of the government archery cradle in Dugni who already has 15 medals in his kitty including the one that he clinched on Wednesday at the ongoing state school archery meet in Jamshedpur - has been selected for the National Child Award for Exceptional Achievement.
The award, instituted in 1996, is given away by the Union ministry of women and child development to children with exceptional abilities and aged between four and 15 years. The Rajnagar teen will receive his cheque of Rs 10,000 and a citation from President Pranab Mukherjee on Children's Day.
Son of a paralytic father and homemaker mother, Gora has always excelled in the Indian round (shooting with traditional bows and arrows). The Class VIII student of a government middle school in Kharsawan won gold in the 40-metre target category in the U-17 age group on Wednesday, scoring 338 points out of 360 at JRD Tata Sports Complex.
" Mere gaon ke dost mujhe phone par badhaiya de rahen hain. Ma, pitaji aur bhaiyon se bhi baat hui. Bahut khush hoon (Friends from my village have been congratulating me over phone. I spoke to my parents and brothers too. I am very happy)," Gora, the youngest among four siblings, said.
The archery talent will take off for New Delhi on November 12 along with mentors B. Srinivas Rao and Himanshu Shekhar Mohanty, besides Seraikela-Kharsawan District Archery Association secretary S.C. Mohanty.
"Gora is an exceptional archer. In fact, he has developed a penchant for the yellow metal. He claimed three gold medals at the 60th School National Games in Ranchi in 2014 and followed it up with as many at the 35th sub-junior nationals held in Jamshedpur earlier this year. He went on to win two more top slots at the 7th mini-national meet at Vijayawada this year," Mohanty said, adding that he received a call from the Union ministry on Thursday on the selection.
Asked about his idols, Gora named Deepika Kumari and Mangal Singh Champia. "Deepika didi Dugni academy se archery seekhi hain. Mangal bhaiyya achche teerandaaz hain (Deepika learnt archery at the Dugni cradle. Mangal is a good archer)," the tribal lad said.
Secretary Mohanty said one day, Gora would switch to recurve archery just like Deepika. "There is little future in the Indian round. But, we are not in a hurry. We don't want him to change bows now because he is competing in the state championship in Jamshedpur next month and the national meet for the Indian round in Goa in January. We are aware of his prowess and are sanguine he will emerge as a top recurve archer in years to come," Mohanty added.
Dugni cradle mentors Rao and Mohanty vouched for Gora's bright future too. "My ward is a hard-working boy who never sits idle. I have great expectations from him," Rao said.
