UDUPI: When Koraga community leader Ganesh Koraga saw Adarsha, a class-5 student from his community using a catapult aiming at an eagle that was hovering over the sky some days back, he admonished him and Adarsha submissively gave it up.
However, Ganesh later pondered over the fact that Adarsha might have done it because hunting come naturally for those born in the Koraga community. Ganesh Koraga shared this thought with Sripad, Organising Secretary, Vanavasi Kalyana Karnataka, (an organization working to improve the social status of tribals). Soon, along with the support from the Integrated Tribal Development Programme of Udupi district administration, a week-long archery training for Koraga kids was planned at ‘Makkala Mane’ in Kumbhashi in Kundapur taluk.
Tribal Koraga children have a natural flair for archery sport, so to polish their skill; the archery training camp for 32 Koraga community kids is taking place from October 7 to October 13. Prabodh Nanda, All India Assistant Course In-Charge with the Vanavasi Kalyana, West Bengal, also the national level archery trainer is training the Koraga kids in Kumbhashi.
Prabodh Nanda told Express that archery is a traditional sport. “This traditional sport has been a measure of skill distinctly mentioned in our epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata as a symbol of supremacy. Today, this sport is played worldwide. We are training these kids as the national level sports event for athletes and archers will be held at Lakshmibai National Institute for Physical Education (LNIPE) in Guwahati, Assam in December this year. The Karnataka state level competition will be held in Mysuru on October 25. If any of these kids selected in the state level, they will be eligible to participate in the national level event in December.