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National Archery Championship: Shukmani adds Maharashtra’s first-ever gold to his quiver
The 19-year-old proves supreme among the field of Olympians while former World No 1, Deepika Kumari, comfortably won the individual gold medal in the women’s recurve round.
Maharashtra’s 19-year-old Shukmani Babrekar scripted the perfect underdog story, leaving top ranked Olympians like Jayanta Talukdar, Tarundeep Rai and Atanu Das trailing as he clinched his first senior national gold medal in the Recurve Olympic round of the 38th Senior National Archery tournament held at the Army Sports Institute in Ghorpadi on Monday. This is also Maharashtra’s first individual gold medal in archery at the national level.
“This is a historic event, as this is the first time that Maharashtra has won an individual gold medal at the national level. He comes from a humble background, and even without much support, he has proved his strength and clinched gold,” said Pramod Chandurkar, joint secretary, Archery Association of India and secretary, Maharashtra Wrestling Association.
While Shukmani didn’t face any Olympians en route to the final, the journey was far from easy for the Maharashtrian. In the first round, he defeated Assam’s Sabit Khaklary and then knocked out Priyank who represented India Police Sports Control Board (AIPSCB) in the quarterfinals.
The semis saw him gear up against title contender, Sukhchain Singh, Services, where he clinched a narrow victory to enter the final. While Shukmani, who was part of Maharashtra’s men team which won silver the previous day, he was determined to go all the way and win gold on Monday.
In the final, he was up against another young contestant, B Dheeraj of Andhra Pradesh. In the first set, Shukmani scored ten, nine and eight points, while Dheeraj managed to score nine, seven and eight points, adding up to 27 and 24 respectively.
The second set was a much closer affair as he edged past Dheeraj by a single point. He scored ten, nine and eight points in the set while Dheerj’s first attempt went wide, leaving him with seven, ten and nine points. Shukmani scored a total of 27 points while Dheeraj scored 26.
Shukmani was a step away from the gold medal in the third set and he closed down the game with a score of eight, eight and ten, registering a comfortable 28-26 victory.
“Initially I was under immense pressure as this was my first ever senior national final. Even the weather was a little windy. But I kept calm and followed the instructions given by my coach, Sameer Mhaske,” said Shukmani.
An Amravati gem
Shukmani hails from Paratwada city, considered the twin city of Achalpur in the Amravati district. His father, Gajanan Babrekar, was the principal at a local school and wanted his son to focus on his studies.But Shukmani had other things in mind. He was fascinated with outdoor activities and soon took a liking to archery, when he noticed his school teacher, Sameer Mhaske training children in the sport. He began training in archery at the age of ten and has only become better since. He went on to win several inter-school tournaments and junior national championships. He has won 5 gold, 2 silver and 8 bronze medals at the national level.
His first international success came last year, when he was part of the Indian team which won silver in the junior men recurve team at the World Archery Youth Championships held in Argentina. The three member team included Jemson Singh Ningthoujam, Atul Verma and Shukmani.
Mhaske, his mentor right from his childhood, feels that the youngster can go on to win medals at bigger stages like the Asian Games and the Olympics.
“He has proved his performance in the team event. But now we must start preparing him for the individual medal in international competitions,” he said.
Shukmani is currently sponsored by a sports NGO, Olympic Gold Quest (OGQ) and is currently ranked 512 in the world.
Deepika Kumar on target
Former World No 1, Deepika Kumari comfortably won the individual gold medal in the women’s recurve round, defeating Ankita Bhagat, who is also from Jharkhand. Deepika won the match in three straight ends, with the score reading 29-25, 27-26 and 29-27 in Deepika’s favour.