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What’s the story?
21-year old Prarthana Solanki, who won a gold medal at the 2019 All India University Games, clinched the silver medal in women’s individual recurve archery event at the Khelo India University Games currently being held at Bhubaneshwar, Odisha.
In case you did not know
Prarthana, who hails from Bareilly moved to Chandigarh in 2019 to pursue PGDCA at DAV College and is coached by Komal Sharma. Her initial dream was to join the Indian army but when her parents did not agree to her decision, it prompted her to take up archery.
Heart of the matter
On Wednesday, Prarthana lost the final narrowly, losing to Priyanka Thakran of Maharishi Dayanand University, Rohtak but expressed her thoughts on clinching a medal.
“When I shifted to Chandigarh, I had competed in Indian round in state and national tournaments. Komal Sharma, archery coach at Panjab University, told me to try recurve archery and I started training for this event."
"To win my first medal in Khelo India University Games is a special feeling. The score was tied after the first ten rounds and we both shot 9 in the tie-breaker. I lost on the account of my shot being less closer to the centre. Such things happen in archery but the silver medal is also a huge motivation for me.”
What’s next?
The KIUG medal will boost Prarthana’s confidence ahead of next month’s nationals and with a few more impressive performances, she could certainly strengthen her chances of landing a spot in the national side.
