Excelsior Sports Correspondent
KATRA, July 10: In the final match of the World Ranking Para Archery Championship, the Indian Team comprising Rakesh Kumar, Tarif and Shyam Sunder defeated Romania by 224 against 208 points and thus won the first ever Gold for the country.
Earlier, the Indian team defeated France in the semi final of the Championship held in the Czech Republic from June 30 to July 7 this year.
Rakesh Kumar and Tarif have been coached at the Shrine Board’s Sports Complex at Katra under the guidance of Kuldeep Vaidwan, who also accompanied the Indian Archery Contingent for the tournament.
Jyoti Balian, another archer who has been trained at Shrine Board’s Sports Complex, secured the 7th place in the compound women category in this World Ranking Para Archery Championship. She also reached the quarter final stage in the mixed event along with Rakesh Kumar.
Governor N. N. Vohra, Chairman of the Shri Mata Vaikshno Devi Shrine Board, has congratulated the Archers for winning the Gold Medal and bringing laurels to the Shrine Board, J&K and India. On the directions of Governor Vohra, special coaching camps have been organised at the Shrine Board’s Sports Complex in the disciplines of Archery, Athletics, Basketball, Badminton and Shooting to impart specialised coaching to sportsmen and women. Because of Specialised Coaching, provision of state-of-the-art equipments and other facilities, the sports persons groomed and trained at the Shrine Board’s Sports Complex have been showing promising results at various competitions being held at different venues.
It is pertinent to mention that Rakesh Kumar is a local from Katra while Tarif is from Haryana and Jyoti Balian is from Uttar Pradesh. All three of them have been enabled to receive coaching and practice at the Shrine Board’s Sports Complex at Katra for the past more than a year.
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