Jharkhand’s lone international sports shooter Akash Kumar Ravidas, 29, wants to win an Olympic medal but can’t afford a rifle of his own.
A Dalit from Asdhir village in Hazaribagh, Akash is here at the State Games not as a competitor but to assist officials at the Tikait Umrao Shooting Range at Hotwar stadium in setting up targets and timers. Asked why, he said, “Let the kids compete.”
Akash was a 16-year-old “kid” at the 2006 Indore junior national, where he went with a borrowed rifle and won gold in 50m shooting. Thirteen years on and several national and international medals later, the 29-year-old still can’t afford an imported rifle that costs about Rs 5.5 lakh. He borrows rifles on rent from more affluent fellow shooters.
“The state sports department has sanctioned Rs 6 lakh (for the rifle) but I am yet to receive it. I have to attend a training camp for senior national shooters this year. I will be forced to borrow a rifle yet again if the money is not released at the earliest,” rued the son of trucker Dhaneshwar Ram and sahiya Devki Devi.
I wish Jharkhand government supports shooters like us the way governments of Gujarat and Punjab do. Olympics is my dream
Akash Kumar Ravidas
In September 2018, when Akash was selected for the two-day selection trials for World Championship in Chandigarh, he called up his elder brother Prakash for money to borrow a rifle and pellets. Prakash, a Nagpuri singer who performs in local orchestra, readily agreed. “Till date I don’t know how my brother arranged Rs 80,000 for me to go to Chandigarh. It’s a fortune from where I come from,” said a grateful Akash.
“I rented a rifle for Rs 15,000 a day. A pellet costs Rs 35. I shot about 180 pellets during the two-day trials,” Akash recalled. “I know shooting is an elite sport. But not once did my brother say that I was blowing up his money.”
Akash went to Delhi in 2008 where he created a national record, scoring 596 out of 600 in 50m rifle shooting in junior nationals. In London Olympics 2012, Bengal shooter Joydeep Karmakar also scored 596 to finish fourth. “That’s why I believe I can compete in the Olympics,” he said.
In 2009, Akash went to Ahmedabad for junior nationals where he won silver. He went to Chandigarh and Delhi in 2012 and 2014 for senior nationals when he won silver both times. “All of these times, including my record-breaking stint in Delhi, I borrowed rifles from others,” he said. “I wish Jharkhand government supports shooters like us the way governments of Gujarat and Punjab do,” he added.
It’s only in international meets that shooters get rifles, said Akash, who’s represented the country in Germany, Kuwait, Czech Republic and South Korea, and won individual bronze at the Junior Asian Meet in Kuwait in 2007 in 50m rifle shooting.
The shooter declined job offers from the railways and the army to focus on sports shooting. “True, there are money constraints but I want to be single-minded in my dedication to the game. Olympics is my dream.”