Seventeen-year-old Jyothi Surekha Vennam wants her arrows to do the talking at the Incheon Asian Games this September, her maiden Asiad.
Incidentally, the compound bow category is also making its debut in this edition of the Games.
This Vijayawada-born archer, a first-year student of mechanical engineering, is now training at the national camp in Gachibowli.
For someone who swam five kilometres across the Krishna at the age of four, entering the Limca Book of Records in the process, Surekha doesn’t really flaunt her flamboyant credentials. More content in being simple and sticking to the basics, she has to be prodded to give a few comments.
“I am more at ease on the field with the bow and arrow than in talking anything big,” says the unassuming archer, who everyone in the Indian camp feels is a huge medal hope for India at the Asian Games.
“The Asian Games are as tough as a World Championship, for it features the best of the archers from Korea, Japan and Iran. You have to be at your best right through the competition,” the teenager says.
A gold medallist at the Mexican Grand Prix at the age of 13, and a double gold medallist (mixed and women’s team events) in the 2014 Asian Grand Prix, Surekha knows what winning feels like.
“I am really training hard to be consistently good at the highest level. You have to stay focused and there is no scope for any concentration lapses in this demanding high-precision sport. And since we compete in different conditions across the world, it is all the more challenging,” she points out.
