ON TARGET: Pranita in action during the World Cup Archery meet in Mexico.

HYDERABAD: Pranita Vardhineni of India created history of sorts by becoming the first Indian girl to win a silver medal in the World Cup Archery Championship in Mexico, according to information received here.

The 16-year-old, a product of the Kalleda School in Warangal, run by the Rural Development Foundation, was picked up by the Tata Academy after a four-year stint under the watchful eyes of former national champion Prabhir Das.

Sponsor

The success story of this young archer is also a tribute to the belief of the sponsors Prakash Pai of Puzzolona Fabricators, who pumped in more than Rs. 20 lakhs for training archers over the last four years.

This Andhra girl who lost to Australian Jane Waller in the recurve cadet girls final, is tipped to become a potential Olympic medallist by the archery critics.

E. Ram Mohan Rao of Rural Development Foundation, who saw her being groomed from an early stage, believes that her grit and determination besides the abundance of talent should take her a long way.

Hailing from an agricultural family in Parvatagiri mandal of Warangal district, this gifted archer is now aiming for a medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Eyes Olympic medal

"This performance in the World Cup has given me a lot of hope and confidence and I will try my best to realise the dream of bagging an Olympic medal," is her message to the Rural Development Foundation officials from Mexico.

Earlier in the quarterfinal, she got the better of Beverly Stevens of Great Britain 101-97 and then she put it across Inna Stepanova of Russia 108-106 in the semi-final.

Another from State

Incidentally, another Andhra archer Adonda Raju was a member of the Indian team, which won the bronze in team event of the men cadet recurve event, losing to Turkey, the eventual champions.

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