Jyothi Surekha Vennam Recommended For Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award

 Jyothi Surekha Vennam, a three-time World Cup silver medallist, has been nominated by the Archery Association of India (AAI) for the country’s highest sporting honour, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna. Limba Ram, the legendary coach and Olympian is also recommended for the Dronacharya (Lifetime) Award.

AAI also recommended Muskan Kirar who is an Asian Games team silver medallist for the Arjuna Award. Along with her, compound archery coach Lokesh Chand Pal was also suggested for the Dronacharya award.

Pal was also Abhishek Verma’s childhood coach. He is credited for Verma's success as he had brought 13-year-old Verma to archery before making him world champion in 2015. Vennam has participated with Abhishek Verma in the season-ending World Cup Final in 2018 in the mixed pair event. The duo had bagged a Silver.

AAI official told PTI, "Last year, the recurve archers got the National Awards so this time we have picked from the compound section." Limba Ram is already a Padma Shri Awardee. He has represented the country in three Olympics and has been awarded the Arjuna Award.

Who is Jyothi Surekha Vennam?

• Vennam is a right-archer hailing from Andhra Pradesh. She was four years old when she entered the Limca Book of Records for crossing the Krishna River three times. She crossed 5km in three hours and completed the whole record in 20 minutes and 6 seconds.
• She has 70 medals to her name to date at the age of 24 years.
• Vennam won an Olympic round gold medal at the Mexican Grand Prix at the young of 14.
• She has two bronze medals from the 2011 Asian Archery Championships.
• Vennam was awarded the Arjuna Award for her achievements in the field of Archery.

On the other hand, Seema Punia has defied her age and qualified for her fourth Olympics and has reserved her berth along with Kamalpreet Kaur.