Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha honoured the Paralympics participants Rakesh Kumar and Jyoti Baliyan at the Raj Bhavan here today. The two Para Archers of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board’s Sports Complex participated in the recently concluded Tokyo Paralympics.The Lt Governor, who is also Chairman of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board, while congratulating the Para Archers observed that the Shrine Board’s support extended towards sports is being appreciated and it is a matter of pride that players nurtured at SMVD Sports Complex are putting Jammu & Kashmir on the world map.He lauded the efforts of the Paralympics participants and wished them success in the upcoming events.Pertinently, Rakesh Kumar is native of Katra and Jyoti Baliyan belongs to Uttar Pradesh but has been trained at the Shrine Board’s Sports Complex, Katra for the last 4 years. Both these archers have been trained under the guidance of Coach Kuldeep Vedwan at the Sports complex.
Rakesh started his archery journey in 2017 from Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board’s Sports Complex. He won the first gold medal for his team in the World Ranking Tournament held in Czech Republic in 2018, Ranked 10th in Asian Games 2018. Earlier, Rakesh bagged gold under Fazza Cup World Ranking Tournament held at Dubai in February 2021. Jyoti Baliyan secured 17th rank in the World Championship held in the Netherlands and won silver medal under Fazza Cup World Ranking Tournament held at Dubai in February 2021. She is the only woman archer from the country who participated in Tokyo Paralympics.Shrine Board’s Sports Complex has been producing sportspersons of national and international standards in various sporting disciplines viz., Archery, Athletics, Judo, Shooting, Badminton etc, who have been showing promising results in varied competitions. SMVDSB Archery Academy is accredited under Khelo India by Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports, Government of India.Sh. Ramesh Kumar, Chief Executive Officer, SMVDSB was present on the occasion.