Navnath Fartade sets sight on Olympic Gold

Beed, Maharashtra, Aug 1 (UNI) Navnath Fartade, the 20-year-old village lad from 'Charhata who won a gold medal in junior men's rifle event at Zagreb in Croatia, has now set his sights on a gold medal in the Beijing Olympic games.

Born to a poor farmer couple Bhanudas (60) and Aasrabai Fartade (53), Navnath was admitted to the state government's Kolhapur based sports academy in 1996 by his parents.

A calm Navnath was also a 'Kabaddi' player in his childhood. He selected 'rifle shooting' immediately on his admission to the state government's sports academy at Kolhapur at the age of 11. He proved his choice was right by winning a gold for his team at the National Games held at Chennai in 1999.

Navnath then rose further to win the gold medal in junior men's air rifle event at the World Shooting Championship last month.

He shot 596 out of 600 to bceome the second Indian junior ever to win a gold medal at the quadernnial event. Jaspal Rana had won the gold as a junior in standard pistol in 1994.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh has announced a financial assistance of Rs five lakh to Navnath for his glorious efforts.

Speaking to UNI, Navnath attributed his success to the state government's sports academy at Kolhapur, and tireless efforts of his parents who have been working as farm labourers to support their lad, since their infertile four hectare land was not able to take care of the family needs.

"I have succeeded in achieving my goal by winning a gold at the World Shooting Championship event for Juniors in Croatia. Now my next target is to win a gold for India in a Olympic Games,'' declared Navnath while talking to UNI over telephone from Kolhapur.

Navnath's trainer at the Kolhapur academy, Ajit Patil attributed Navnath's success to his honest efforts and the hardcore training he was given at the academy.

The academy too has proven the state government's decision of setting a centre at Kolhapur a right decision, after the great achievement by Navnath, Mr Patil said.

Charhata, the birth place of Navnath, where he was studied till standard fifth, uptil now known for good kabaddi players, suddenly made headlines after the representatives of press and media rushed to the tiny village to get reactions from Navnath's parents.

The village also hundreds of its youth employed in the Indian Army, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), State Reserve Police (SRP) as well as state police.

The local MLA Prof Sunil Dhande is currently busy in working out a gala function to celebrate Navnath's feat.

The family house of Navnath, at Charhata, was found lacking even basic amenities and appliances including cooking gas.

''We are at home these days, since several people are coming to us after our son's achievement. Otherwise, we have to be in the field to work for a whole day,'' informed Aasrabai, Navnath's mother.

Navnath said that he has been using the rifle made available by the academy in the events, but pointed out that the participants at the international competitionshad their own modern rifles.

Navnath's views were supported by his trainer who said that the facilities at the sports academies need to be upgraded to the international standards.

Meanwhile, Navnath and his two other teammates are now busy preparing themselves for a forthcoming SAF Games in Sri Lanka, scheduled later this month.

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