‘We must overcome fear and move forward’

"We must overcome fear and move forward," said promising archer Ety Khatun, who emerged as a national star after achieving an individual milestone by becoming the first female athlete from the country to win three gold medals in a single edition of the South Asian Games in December last year in Nepal.

The 15-year old from Chuadanga was eagerly waiting to return to proper practice because she knew better from a previous experience that a long break from proper training means one has to start from the scratch.

"It doesn't matter how much you train inside your house, there will always be a deficiency if you don't do outdoor training and you will feel it when you return to real business. I am saying this from my previous experience. Last year I had missed a camp for one-and-a-half months due to exams and it took me eight months to get back my rhythm," Ety told The Daily Star.

"I couldn't train for the first three months after lockdown started in March. I only had some physical exercise at that time. But a month ago, I received bows from the federation, and I have been training inside my house since then. We are expecting the camp to start after the Eid break," she said.

The youngster is aware of the lurking danger of Covid-19, but she believes athletes should take the challenge of the new normal and they cannot wait for an indefinite period of time.

"We have to be careful and must follow hygiene rules and protocols keeping in mind the risk of infection but we have to overcome the fear of coronavirus and move forward. I think we must return to the field. We will be safer there if we can maintain the safety measures," opined Ety.

"The most important thing for an archer is to practise shooting arrows. But I can't do that right now because I don't have the opportunity to train outside my house. Archery is such a game that if we don't practise for two days in a row, our performance will drop on the third day. So, it goes without saying how much we suffered because of staying home. I am trying hard and federation officials are also helping us stay healthy so that we can return to training with full fitness," she said, adding that she has been getting great support from coach Martin Frederick.

She also said that she was always trying to stay positive in the current crisis. "To be honest, I never felt too much stress. Many people have been affected by the coronavirus. It has spread all over the country. I am just trying to be careful."

She was, however, a bit concerned about her financial troubles. "I'm in a lot of financial trouble. At the very beginning of the lockdown, I got Tk 4,000 from the federation and before the Eid-ul-Fitr, State Minister for Youth and Sports, Zahid Ahsan Russell, distributed each of us Tk 10,000. Unfortunately, I didn't get any support from my club and they have not contacted me so far."

"I always try to make my parents happy and since they have no son, I want to play that role and that's why I want to be successful. My SA Games successes brought smile on their faces and my life has also changed a lot. I am chasing a bigger dream as I am looking forward to play in the Olympics in future," she said.

The young archer is looking forward to making the word 'archery' popular among sportslovers in the country. "Everyone knows it as the bow and arrow game, but hardly the name archery. I want to change that."