Class-11 student from Bhopal Amit Kumar won the gold medal at Cadet Youth World Archery Championship that was held in Polands's Rocklaw City on Sunday, 15 August.
Kumar was part of a three-member Indian archery team that won against France in the recurve category, The Times of India reported.
Son of a truck driver in Bhopal, Kumar lost his mother to COVID in May. Speaking to The Times of India, Kumar said that he was shattered when his mother passed away but his father and his coach tried to motivate him to focus on his future.
"I completely immersed myself in preparing for the world championship. I was all fired up to participate despite the pandemic."Amit Kumar
Kumar has had an interest in bows and arrows for a long time now and has represented Madhya Pradesh in various national championships in archery. He has won over 12 medals till now, and his next aim is to win an Olympic medal.
"As my uncle lives in Jabalpur, it was when I visited him that I knew about the MP Archery Academy. I was selected into the academy on my first attempt and joined there in 2016," he told The Times of India.
Losing his mother three months ago was not the only setback that Kumar faced while prepping himself for the world championship. In March, when Kumar was travelling by train along with his teammates to participate in the Dehradun national championship, his compartment caught fire.
"We barely got out alive. But we lost all our equipment in the fire. However, we still won the silver medal after hastily arranging for bows and arrows overnight."Amit Kumar
The Times of India reported that despite losing his mother, Kumar pushed himself to focus on the tournament to prove his worth as it was his first international tournament.
His coach Ricchpal Singh said that the youngster had shown his talent from day one.
Reacting to Kumar's victory, Madhya Pradesh's Minister of Sports and Youth Welfare Yashodhara Raje Scindia stated, "the state is producing more talents in every game and it is because of the strong infrastructure in the sports academy."
She also congratulated Kumar and his coach for winning the world championship.
(With inputs from The Times of India)
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