Pravin Jadhav on Sunday won a silver medal in World Archery Championship along with team stalwarts Tarundeep Rai and Atanu Das in the Netherlands. The 22-year-old who just a few years ago hadn’t even travelled out of Sarde village in Satara, was part of the team that emerged victorious, beating competitors from Canada, Chinese Taipei Norway, and the Netherlands before being defeated by the Chinese in the gold-medal match.
India had last for the finals of the men’s recurve category at a World Championship in 2005.
Jadhav is now eyeing a medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Despite being the national champion, he will still need to earn his spot in the Indian Olympic team. “There will be selection trials for it and I need to keep up my form. This is just the start of the journey,” 22-year-old Jadhav told The Indian Express.
Using sports as a springboard
Pravin Jadhav’s 71-year-old father Ramesh is a daily wage labourer and till 2018 the family lived in a hut with no electricity. The daily wage meant that there was barely enough income to put two square meals on the table .
For a person, who has spent half of his life living in a shanty near a drain, Jadhav decided to pick up a bow nearly six years ago, against the wishes of his family to escape the clutches of poverty.
His primary school teacher Baban Bhujbal had suggested he used sports as a means to better his life. Paying heed, Jadhav selected athletics, a field that would need zero investment for a family of limited means. “It looked like an obvious choice,” 43-year-old Bhujbal told the Indian Express.
However, Pravin was ‘severely under-nourished’ and did not have the stamina to do well in athletics.
The journey
Baban Bhujbal then paid attention to his dietary requirements and with time, Jadhav found success in 400m and 800m races, winning taluka and district competitions.
This, as expected, drew the attention of scouts of the Maharashtra government which runs Krida Prabodhini scheme under which free lodging, coaching and education are provided to athletes from rural areas at residential academies.
However, in his pre-admission tests it became clear that he would do better in archery. Jadhav’s coach, 37-year-old Praful Dange says that it was the length of his arms, stability and strength that made the decision for him.
However, Jadhav’s parents were against it as a proper job to them was working in a clothing store in the village seeing it would get him a salary.
Jadhav stuck to his ground initially using a traditional bamboo bow before moving on to modern equipment, which was either gifted or borrowed.
And his hard work paid off too. Pravin Jadhav succeeded in the junior circuit before becoming the national champion this year. It is being reported that the 22-year-old also was the second-best behind his teammate Rai at the selection trials for the World Championship held in March.
A chance at a good life
Last year, Jadhav was recruited by the Indian Army under the sports quota and his family, seeing the stability it brought, asked him to focus on it and quit sports.
However, both Bhujbal and Dange backed Jadhav and insisted that he should continue to compete in archery.
“He’s a natural. I have not seen many sports persons who are as focused as he is,” a proud Dange says.
“He knows this is his only chance to create a good life,” he added.