Give me job, I will bring Olympic medal: Archer Rajat Chauhan

NAGPUR: "I have won all the medals except Olympic, still I am jobless. Give me a job, and I will surely bring home a medal in Olympics," said country's renowned archer Rajat Chauhan on Monday.
The Asian Games silver medalist was in the city as a special guest during the Mayor's Cup All India Invitational Archery Competition which began here at the Reshimbagh ground.
The 24-year-old Arjuna awardee from Rajasthan, who in 2015 scripted history by winning a World Championship silver medal in Copenhagen, was all but upset with the treatment meted out by his own state.
"For winning the Asian silver medal Rajasthan government announced Rs 20 lakh, even gave me a dummy cheque. The photos of state sports minister giving me the cheque were splashed all around, but till date not a single penny has been deposited in my account," Chauhan said.
"Look how Punjab and Haryana treat their champion sportspersons, I have friends in every state and almost all have a secured job but my own state has no respect for those who brought laurels to the country. Central government is doing everything and has brought many new projects for the benefit of sportspersons but state government has done nothing," lamented Chauhan.
Elaborating the pain that sportsperson suffer he said, "Without application there's no award. Even after we apply following all the procedure, our requests are dumped in files. So should a player practice or make regular rounds at the government offices for processing his application."
Happy to see a grassroot-level archery competition being held in city, Chauhan said, "Archery is alive in India mainly because of Sports Authority of India (SAI) and some academies and the efforts like the Mayor's Cup happening in Nagpur. For the game to progress we need such initiatives."
Dronacharya award coach Purnima Mahato too echoed similar sentiments. Explaining the reason behind the failure of Indian archers in the Olympics. She said, "Our archers lack in mental toughness when it comes to performing in front of a packed gallery. And in the Olympics every participant has to play in front of a huge gathering from first round onwards whereas in the world or any other championships only the final rounds are played in the gallery."
She added, "In India we don't have a gallery and our players don't get match like situation. So they always come under pressure when it comes to performing in the Olympics. We have started the process of hiring mental trainers and in the coming games we expect a handful of medals."