Suryaprakash - our student who is a national level gold medalist in archery

- by Rudro Sen

Suryaprakash Ahari is a 19 year old student at our PACE Centre in Udaipur. He hails from a village called Saradit in Jhadol, Udaipur in Rajasthan. He is the eldest amongst 3 brothers and a sister in a family of farmers.

He was studying in Udaipur when he developed a keen interest in sports and discovered a true passion for archery. When his Uncle Limba Ram, Asian Games and Commonwealth Gold Medallist and Olympian, learnt of this interest he asked Suryaprakash to come to Jaipur and train under him. At the age of 17, he participated in 3 National Games, winning a Silver medal in Delhi.

He later participated in 3 more National Games and won his first National Gold medal in Mumbai. The Rajasthan Government, Udaipur Sarkar and the Khel Ministry commemorated this achievement. With his class 12 board exams fast approaching he developed a very serious lung complication for which he had to be admitted to a specialist hospital in Ahmedabad for two weeks. He still gave his exams and succeeded in bringing home a certificate.He is now undertaking a Bachelor of Arts degree in Jhadol.

Suryaprakash enjoyed his stint in Jaipur and talks very fondly about his encounter with IPL cricket players while practicing archery outside the cricket stadium. The players saw Suryaprakash and his peers practicing archery and approached them to try their hand at another sport. They spoke to Suryaprakash about coming from rural backgrounds themselves and how they have reached where they are now. This encouraged Suryaprakash to do something for himself and aim to reach even further.

His quest to succeed developed further when a relative who worked at Pratham, Rajasthan spoke to him about the programs offered by Pratham. This encouraged Suryaprakash to look into Pratham and he enrolled himself for the hospitality program. He initially thought he was getting into a basic computer course but was pleasantly surprised to find himself in a detailed vocational program which would enable him to get a good job and sustain himself financially.

He has taken a keen interest in House Keeping, which has developed from his own pursuit of living in a neat and clean home. He aims to become a House Keeping Manager one day.

He dreams of representing India in Archery but is concerned as the equipment is very expensive. Once he finishes his course he hopes to get placed in a good hotel and use his salary to accomplish this dream. He also hopes to encourage his younger siblings to follow his path including a brother who too has taken up archery.