She hasn't turned three yet, but Shivani is already an archer

The News Minute| March 14, 2015| 5.00 pm ISTDolly Shivani Cherukuri is a promising archer from the Volga Archery Academy in Vijayawada, who is all set to enter the India Book of Records on March 24. She is aiming to register 200 points in the five metre and seven metre categories.However, Shivani is a mere 35 months old and will turn three years old only next month. Born on April 2, 2012, she is the sister of late Indian coach and international archer Cherukuri Lenin, who was killed in a road accident soon after the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games. Though shattered by his son's death, Volga Archery Academy chairman Cherukuri Satyanarayana wanted someone bright to carry the mantle forward. It was then that Satyanarayana and his wife Krishna Kumari decided to go for surrogacy. “We wished that our daughter will become an archer. By God's grace she does have the talent for it,” Satyanarayana tells The News Minute. Satyanarayana took the help of a bow-maker in Poland and brought home 30 tiny carbide re-curve bows made of optic fibre."Shivani, under her coach, behaves like any other senior archer. Always in uniform while at practice, she carries her bow-stand and uses other accessories without anyone's help. She fixes the arrow to the string herself and shoots with so much concentration," he says. "She is really passionate about archery and she is even ambidextrous, equally at ease with both her hands."Shivani is all set to enter the India Book of Records, when she gears up to register 200 points in the five-metre and seven-metre categories on March 24. “Though no one else has achieved this feat, we're not calling it a record personally, but it will be a moral boost to her," he adds.Shivani will be shooting 72 arrows in 24 attempts, with a two-minute duration for three arrows for both categories. Satyanarayana is very proud of his daughter. "She is consistently improving and already hitting the occasional bulls eye for the five and seven metre categories and scoring around 400 points during practice sessions, though she needs only 200,” he says. â€œEvery two months, we are increasing the distance of the target by two metres. By 2020, Shivani will be nine years old, and I want her to represent the country in the Olympics and see the tricolour waving,” Satyanarayana adds..Tweet