Haryana archery's X-factor

Vinayak Padmadeo

Ahmedabad, October 6

Operating in a shed, a training centre in a Hisar village is fuelling Haryana’s surge in archery. With Haryana’s archers trumping opponents from traditional powerhouses such as Jharkhand and Services at the National Games, the Umra Archery Centre in the Hisar district is hogging the spotlight.

On the last day of the archery competition here, Haryana won four of the five available gold medals in the recurve discipline. Sangeeta Malik beat Jharkhand’s Anshika Kumari Singh 6-2 in the women’s final. Akash Malik and Bhajan Kaur edged past Maharashtra’s Gaurav Lambe and Charuta Kamalapur, winning 19-16 in a shoot-off, in the mixed team final.

The women’s team of Sangeeta, Bhajan and Preeti beat Jharkhand’s Komalika Bari, Dipti Kumari and Ankita Bhagat 28-27 in a shoot-off to win the gold.

The men’s team of Akash, Abhijeet Malik and Basant Kumar bagged the gold medal after the Services team was forced to pull out due to archer Pravin Jadhav falling ill.

Haryana failed to make the podium only in the men’s event, in which West Bengal’s Atanu Das beat Services’ Gurcharan Besra 6-4 to win the gold. The bronze medal went to Services’ Tarundeep Rai.

Umra connection

Of Haryana’s medallists today, Sangeeta, Akash, Abhijeet and Preeti belong to the Umra village, which is 30km from Hisar. Most of the others come from surrounding places.

The Umra Archery Centre, which was founded by Manjit Singh Malik, has over 80 trainees now. The academy has come a long way from the time when the villagers used to mock the archers, said Manjit. “When we started, the villagers used to make fun of the archers, saying ‘look at these hunters’. Now, the same people want me to train their children. Archery has given us respect in the village,” Manjit said.

For Sangeeta, it was a case of proving a point to the patriarchal mindset. “They would say ‘you are a girl, your place is in the house, not outside’. I worked hard to get better and with the support of my family and my coach I am doing well now,” Sangeeta said.

Not trained

Incredibly, Manjit has never been an archer himself. He is also not a trained coach. Most of his knowledge came from picking the brains of other coaches at the Nationals.

“I have never shot an arrow in my life. I come from a sporting family. My brother is a hockey coach for Haryana. My father was a part of the first batch of the NIS coaches. I was never fit to become a wrestler. I picked this sport because I had to do something in sports,” Manjit said.

Free training

When Manjit started the centre, he bought a few Indian bows from his own money. Since then, he has been imparting training for free.

“I remember we used to share two bows during the Nationals. One archer would finish his rounds and then we would run to hand over the bow to the other. We have become champions. My family and the people of my village must have seen us on television today. I am sure they feel proud of us,” Manjit said.

“Haryana won its first ever national medal in 2014 when our U-14 team won a bronze medal in the Indian bow competition. That gave us the confidence that we could do well in this sport. Now, I have travelled with the Indian team as coach and my trainees are regularly a part of the Indian team,” he added. Manjit said that he never asked the children to appear for a selection trial. “We do not have a system of selection. Whoever shows interest will get free training. We have not even made an office there,” he said.

“We have only two coaches. There is only me and Jyoti Malik, who has completed the NIS coaching diploma course,” he added.

Most of the centre’s trainees come from a farming background. Just before the National Games, Sangeeta got a scolding from Manjit for coming to training late.

“Like everyone else, Sangeeta helps out her family in the farm. Recently, she helped her family in the harvest of bajra,” Manjit said. “I scolded her last week because she came late for training. She was late because the farm had to be irrigated,” he added.

“I told her that having been selected for the National Games she needed to train harder. It is my job as a coach to keep a close eye on whatever they do. Her mother then promised me that Sangeeta’s training would not be affected,” he added.