Five girls and a boy would be participating in the School National Games scheduled at Jharkhand in U-17 category and in Andhra Pradesh in Under-14 category of Archery during the coming months, stated Trilochan Mohanta, Havaldar , General Duty (GD) of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) who received special award for promotion of sports in insurgency infested areas and also ‘Atal Drishti Patra’.
He was felicitated by Chief Minister Raman Singh during the State Sports Award decoration ceremony held at Atal Bihari Vajpayee Auditorium, Pt Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College premises on Thursday.
Motivated by the work of Commandant, Surinder Khatri, a national level Archer himself, Trilochan Mohanta has now fully dedicated himself since 2016 of his posting in Kondagaon 41st Battalion of ITBP to promotion of sports in the insurgency areas.
Around 100 children from Kolavan, Mardapal, Rangapal, Kakori, Mungapadar and other villages nearby the camps in Kondagaon district, all school going girls and boys are being trained in Archery.
Last year, around 40 players in different categories won the State-level event while in 2017 and seven players played in national events. Five archers in School National Games and two in open games while the six are scheduled to play, he said.
The children aged under14 under 17 and under 19 including senior category players are also being imparted training in compound and recurve bow while government has provided around 21 Indian Bows.
He said that he had personally spent around Rs five lakh for purchase of one compound bow and five recurve bow to train the children.
“Yes, now I am facing difficulty in training the children as the number of children had increased while the compound and recurve bow are less in number. The training is imparted for two hours from 6.00 am to 8.00 am while in evening it is from 4.00 to 6.00 pm,” he said.
The other factor is that tribal children are now gaining confidence but shortage of equipment along with diet at present is an existing barrier. ITBP has a limitation so we are working within the framework. State Archery Association has not yet extended any help for the children, Mohanta said.
Last but not the least, he also has apprehensions that his job being transferable, will the efforts made in promoting sports in insurgency areas go in vain, if transferred?