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She is all of three years old, but Dolly Shivani Cherukuri packs a punch with a bow and arrow in hand. Today, the wonderkid created a new national archery record by becoming the youngest Indian to score 200 points over five-metre and seven-metre distances.
The staggering news was confirmed by Biswaroop Chowdhury of the India Book of Records, who said, “She has become the youngest in the country to achieve the feat." Chowdhury spoke to Times of India via telephone from Andhra Pradesh, where Dolly completed the feat.
"It's a record which will be difficult to break,” Chowdhury added.
Dolly trains at the Volga Archery academy in Vijayawada, which is headed by Cherukuri Satyanarayana. Satyanarayana lost his son Ch. Lenin, an international archer, in a road accident shortly after the Commonwealth Games in 2010, and he wanted someone from his family to carry on the archery legacy.
Satyanarayana bought home 30 tiny carbide recurve bows made of optic fibre from Legnica in Poland. “When Shivani was born on April 2, 2012, she arrived amidst the bows and arrows. Her 35-month journey so far has always been with archery. Literally, she speaks, dreams, eats archery and mingles with senior archers,” says Satyanarayana.
Dolly trains hard everyday under the tutelage of Chandrasekhar Laguri, a recurve coach from Jharkhand. She always wears a uniform during practice and carries her bow and other accessories without anyone’s help. “We have already taught her the importance of yellow colour in the target face which carries 10 points. She maintains a book and all her scores are recorded for future reference,” says coach Chandrasekhar.
Dolly asks for help only when she cannot reach for the arrows, says fellow archer Josthna.
Here’s a video of the phenom practising her brilliant archery skills:
