Gujarat sports academy trains tribal youth in archery

The Eklavya Archery Academy here is honing the archery skills of tribal youth to enable them to compete in international events.

Nasvadi (Gujarat), Aug 24 : The Eklavya Archery Academy here is honing the archery skills of tribal youth to enable them to compete in international events.

Dinesh Bhil, a national level archer, started the academy three years ago. The tribal youth mostly belong to the Bhil community. Eklavya, the great archer of the epic Mahabharata, belonged to the Bhil community.

Dinesh selects students between 7 and 25 from remote tribal areas and trains them in archery and physical fitness.

At present, there are 25 students.

"After learning archery, I thought of training the tribal youth, and so I started the Eklavya Archery Academy in Gujarat," said Dinesh.

Two camps are organised annually where archers train for five to six hours for 20 days.

"I have joined the academy to become a good archer and make my community and Gujarat proud," said Gharkiya Bhil, a trainee.

The academy also takes care of the academics of the trainees.

Academy students have excelled in a state-level competition held in Rajkot in August.

The academy has the honour of having won three gold, five silver and ten bronze medal in various state and national championships.

The Gujarat Government also supports the academy through financial grants.

Five boys from the academy have been selected for scholarship under the Shakti Doot Scheme, with the government paying one lakh each for the next three years.

ANI