Ward boy-turned-police constable and archery coach shepherds India’s world champions | Cricket News

Pravin Sawant, a ward boy-turned-police constable cum archery coach in the drought-prone region of Satara in Maharashtra is responsible for India winning an unprecedented two individual gold medals at the World Archery Championships.Trained in an academy that’s built on what was a one-acre sugarcane farmland, the duo was instrumental in India’s best-ever finish in the showpiece with four medals — three gold and one bronze. India had won a gold in the women’s compound team event and Jyothi Surekha Vennam won bronze in the individual compound.
Aditi and Ojas’ success at the Championships is a testament to their coach Sawant’s dedication to the sport he sought to master as a teenager in a place that didn’t have any proper infrastructure or a rich hory of the sport.
While Sawant spotted Aditi’s talent and trained her right from the time she was a 12-year-old, Ojas joined Sawant’s academy only last year, moving from Nagpur, after he heard about Sawant’s academy from his friend who trained there.
Having watched the 2008 Beijing Olympics on television, Sawant was captivated the sport and wanted to pursue it. More importantly, he was determined to leave his job as a ward boy at an orthopaedic hospital and get himself a government job. His friends told him that one way of getting a job was to pick a sport and win a national medal.
“During the 2008 Olympics was the first time I saw archery. I played volleyball and other sports but when I saw archery, I wanted to try it out. I also thought that not many people will play the sport so I will have lesser competition,” he said.
The only issue for Sawant was that the archery training center was in Wai, some 45km away from where he was staying. He also had a night shift at the hospital and needed the money to make ends meet.
“I would work the whole night and then go to the training center in the morning at about 8 am. It would take me one-and-half-hour to reach the center but I was determined to do well. I even won a U-19 national competition. I finally got a job in the police force when I was 21 and could leave my job as a ward boy,” he said.
He may have gone from being a ward boy to a policeman, but his time spent at the hospital is what ultimately enabled him to be the champion coach that he is. After all, it was there that he made friends with Mahindra Kadam, who owned a chem’ near the hospital.
Building the academy
Getting the policeman job meant that he had to work 14-hour shifts often and so, it wasn’t possible for Sawant to travel to Wai to train every day. He was given space to train at the Shahu Stadium in Satara but it wasn’t really enough for him as while he was training, he also started training kids who were keen to take up the sport after watching him.
He wanted to give the kids the best possible expertise at a place close to their homes. He didn’t want them to undergo the hardships he had to go through.
“I went all over the state to learn the techniques of archery. Whenever I would get time away from my job, I would go to Pune’s Army Institute where a friend knew the coach there. I tried to learn whatever I could to then give the kids the proper training at a young age for I know that had I got the same training, I would’ve won medals for the country. To train them, I needed a center of my own, and not some makeshift facility at the stadium,” he says.
That’s when the chem owner Kadam stepped in. Kadam knew that Sawant was extremely passionate about the sport and asked him to train his daughter too. When Sawant told him about the space issues he was having, Kadam and his wife, without hesitation, offered him their one-acre sugarcane field which mind you, was just bearing the crop at the time.
“They just cut whatever was growing and told me to set up a center there. Just think about their generosity. Who will give their land free of cost to anyone to set up an academy to coach 20-odd kids a sport that is extremely popular!” Sawant says.
Getting the land, however, wasn’t enough. He needed money to do up the land, level it, build the facility, and also get equipment. That’s when his wife and mother came to his rescue and agreed to mortgage their jewellery.
“I got Rs 2 lakh for the jewellery which is still with the bank,” he says. After his parents chipped in with some more money, the centre, named Drushti Academy was born.
His wife learnt how to do the basic setup for the kids to train so they don’t suffer while Sawant went to work more often than not, at odd hours.
“She’s eight months pregnant right now and still is at the academy the entire time. Whenever I’m done with work, I go there too. We actually sort of live there now. I may get only four-five hours of sleep every day but when I see the results, it seems worth it,” he says.

He’s no means joking that he lives there. In an attempt to constantly upgrade the academy, last year, they installed floodlights and an accommodation facility for about 15 people.
“It means that I’m always available and that’s the most important thing for any kid who wants to play the sport professionally,” Sawant says.