Promising young archer from Seraikela-Kharsawan has landed a job in an industrial unit in Gamharia. Lohar will be joining RSB Transmissions Limited on Monday. He will work at purchase wing of the company.

Lohar said he went through the interview some days back and has received the offer letter from the company. "I am very happy with the turn of events. I can now take care of my family well and also concentrate on archery. The job is a huge relief for me," the 25-year-old said.

Lohar, a resident of Pinderabera village in Gamharia block, 35 km from Jamshedpur, is still waiting for a sophisticated compound bow recommended to the state sports department by Union tribal affairs minister and boss of Archery Association of India Arjun Munda. The recommendation was made in June 2020.

He contemplated quitting the sport due to lack of equipment. The bow with his shoots is tattered and affects his shooting. However, the job will surely put his archery career back on tracks.

"Though I am still waiting for the bow, the job has taken off a huge burden from my shoulders. I will no longer sell chicken and concentrate on my job and archery," Lohar, who claimed gold in the Indian round section in the senior national archery championship in Cuttack in March 2019, said.

He received a cash award of Rs 75,000 for this feat but that money has since been exhausted.

Lohar stays with his wife Chandni, infant son and elderly father. His elder brother Sunil is a truck driver and lives separately.

The archer competes in the Indian round section (shooting with traditional bows and arrows) but, keeping his talent in mind, the Seraikela-Kharsawan District Archery Association (SKDAA) was serious about making him switch to the globally accepted compound division.

The labourious Lohar used the Covid-induced lockdown by digging a well on the compound of his home in 2020. His village faced an acute water crisis and the archer thought to use the lockdown for an important cause. "There is ample water in the well," he said.