Pravin Ramesh Jadhav (born 6 July 1996) is an Indian

archer Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In m ...

who competes in the recurve discipline, supported by OGQ. At the

2019 World Archery Championships The 2019 World Archery Championships were held in 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands from 10 to 16 June 2019. The event served as a qualifier for the 2020 Summer Olympics, with each men's and women's team that made the quarter-finals earning three quo ...

, he was a member of the first Indian team to qualify for the final since 2005; the team received the silver medal.

Early life

Jadhav was born on 6 July 1996 into a family of daily wage labourers. His family lived in a shack near a drain in the drought-prone village of Sarade in

Satara district Satara district (Marathi pronunciation: aːt̪aɾaː is a district of Maharashtra state in western India with an area of and a population of 3,003,741 of which 14.17% were urban (). Satara is the capital of the district and other major towns ...

. Jadhav would sometimes accompany his father to work in the farm, during his teenage years. Interested in sports from his childhood, Jadhav participated in

800 meters The 800 metres, or meters ( US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of an outdoor (400-metre) track and has been an Olympic event since the ...

at district level, but did not have enough stamina as a result of being undernourished. His school teacher Vikas Bhujbal then bore the expenses for his training and diet, resulting in better performances and selection in the Krida Parbodhini school. After receiving training for one year in

Balewadi Balewadi is a residential suburban town of Pune, located in the city's Western Metropolitan Corridor. It is famous for the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex which had hosted both the National Games in 1994 and the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Ga ...

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, ( the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million As of 2021, Pune Metropolitan Region is the largest i ...

, where his 800 meters timing improved, he shifted to

Amravati Amravati (pronunciation ( help·info)) is the second largest city in the Vidarbha region and ninth largest city in Maharashtra, India. It is administrative headquarters of Amravati district and Amravati division which includes Akola, Buld ...

, where he was trained in archery. Jadhav, still physically weak, experienced difficulty in handling the weight of the

recurve bow In archery, a recurve bow is one of the main shapes a bow can take, with limbs that curve away from the archer when unstrung. A recurve bow stores more energy and delivers energy more efficiently than the equivalent straight-limbed bow, giving ...

, with the academy mulling to release him due to his sub-par performances. Bhujbal then requested help from Mahesh Palkar, an education officer, who asked the academy to give Jadhav a final chance. Having been given five shots to prove himself, Jadhav scored over 45 and retained his place in the academy.

Career

Jadhav first represented India at the 2016 Asia Cup Stage 1 in Bangkok, where he won bronze medal in the men's recurve team event. Later that year, he was part of Indian B team in the

2016 Archery World Cup The 2016 Archery World Cup is the 11th edition of the international archery circuit organised annually by the World Archery Federation. The preliminary stage consisted of three legs instead of the usual four, to make room for the Olympic archery to ...

stage in Medellín. At the

, Jadhav was a member of the Indian team which became the first men's recurve team from the country to qualify for the final since 2005. The team of Jadhav,

Atanu Das Atanu Das (born 5 April 1992) represents India in the recurve men's individual and team events. His current world ranking is 9 as of 22 July 2021. He is the spouse of World No. 1 Indian archer Deepika Kumari. Career Das started archery at th ...

and

Tarundeep Rai Tarundeep Rai (born 22 February 1984, in Namchi, Sikkim, India) is an Indian archer. He is conferred with the Padma Shri, in 2021, by the Government of India, for his contribution in Sports. Earlier, in 2018, he was awarded the Khel Ratan Aw ...

beat sixth-seeded Canada to qualify for the knockout stage and secure India a place at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

. Then they beat third-seeded Chinese Taipei and hosts Netherlands in the quarterfinals and semifinals respectively. The team settled for silver after losing to China in the final.

Personal life

Jadhav was recruited in the

Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...

under sports quota in 2017, after being spotted by Colonel Vikram Dhayal, coach of the

compound Compound may refer to: Architecture and built environments * Compound (enclosure), a cluster of buildings having a shared purpose, usually inside a fence or wall ** Compound (fortification), a version of the above fortified with defensive struc ...

team, during the 2016 World Cup. As of 2019, he is ranked

havaldar Havildar or havaldar (Hindustani language, Hindustani: or (Devanagari), (Perso-Arabic script, Perso-Arabic)) is a rank in the Indian, Pakistani and Nepalese armies, equivalent to sergeant. It is not used in cavalry units, where the equivalent ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jadhav, Pravin 1996 births Living people Archers from Maharashtra Indian male archers Archers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic archers for India World Archery Championships medalists