Volga Archery Academy archers, both former and present trainees, brought laurels to the city by sealing four places in the Indian teams for World Cup Stage I and II at China and Turkey respectively in May.
Asian Games bronze medallists Purvasha Sudhir Shinde and nineteen-year-old Vennam Jyothi Surekha grabbed their slots in the women compound team while Chittibomma Jignas, who presently works in Indian Army, made it to the men’s compound team.
Sixteen-year-old Satavahana College student Purvasha, who hogged the limelight in the junior and senior segments in the National Ranking Archery Tournament at New Delhi, continued her dream run in the selection tourney while Koneru Lakshmaiah University student Jyothi Surekha, who won the Individual Olympic round gold medal in the Asia Cup at Bangkok recently, punched big scores to book her ticket to the two events.
Jignas, after his unfortunate accident on 2013 was in and out of the Indian team and now he is keen on registering a resounding show in both the events. “World Cup is a big stage event where we will be meet world class archers. My arm which was fractured is fine now I am not feeling any pain,” said Jignas from Pune.
Olympian Mangal Singh Champia, who is the first star trainee from the stable of Volga, made a brilliant comeback into the Indian recurve team after a gap one year. Mangal used to practice at IGMC stadium along with late Ch. Lenin in early 2000 and it was Vijayawada which gave him the opportunity to shape into an international archer. He presently represents Indian Railways in the national events. “Mangal was finishing or sixth the selection trials earlier. Now, with Rio Olympics round the corner in 2016 Mangal has upped his performance to obtain a place in the team. He is the oldest member of the team and he has experience by his side to do well in both the events. He is a contender for the place in the team bond to Olympics,” felt Cherukuri Satyanarayana, chairman Volga Archery Academy.