Abhishek Verma: Hitting 'Bull's Eye' with killer smile

Come July, some of his colleagues will be gearing up for a tough grind at the Rio de Janeiro while compound archer Abhishek Verma may have to live with the fact that he will not have the tag of an 'Olympian'.
But nothing can erase the endearing smile from the 26- year-old Delhi boy, who is humility personified.
"In the archery circuit, they call me 'smiley boy' as I always sport a wide grin. That's the way I go about things. It helps me in shooting. If you take pressure it will affect you," Verma told PTI after winning double gold medal here today.

And who is the role model for this Asian Games gold medallist? Who else but India's greatest ever Olympian wrestler Sushil Kumar.
"I am a great fan of Sushilbhai and he has had a great influence on me. His akhada (Chhatrasal Stadium) is just next to where I live. We know each other personally. He is so humble despite such achievements. I also owe a lot to my coach Lokesh Chand and my family's support."
Archery happened to him by default but eventually turned out to be his passion.

"I asked my sports teacher (Government High School) give me a sport and he put me to compound archery -- it was purely by mistake! I kept on winning and it became a passion," Verma, who started at the age of 13, said.

As for perfection, he's mastered the art in compound archery as Verma shot an incredible 15 Perfect 10s out of a possible 16, en route to winning two team gold medals at the ongoing 12th South Asian Games.
Verma had a fruitful 2015, where he had bagged India a never-before silver medal at the World Cup Final in Mexico as he also had won gold at the World Cup Stage-III in Wroclaw.
So when recurve archers prepare for Rio, one might find Verma try to help the budding target-hitters at the Yamuna Sports Complex in the national capital.
"If I'm not shooting, you will find me there. We have so far produced more than 100 medallists in archery at various levels in Nationals. We have two coaches there also.