Civil Services probationers learn archery, coach says will help them focus

Probationary IAS officers are trying their hand at archery during a three-day course, aimed not just at teaching them to score a bullseye.

At the first workshop of its kind at Mussoorie's Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, trainee Civil Services officers are being taught by three-time national archery champion Dinesh Bhil.

The programme for IAS, IPS and IFS probationers began on Wednesday.

The trainees are being taught the high-concentration sport to help them learn patience and how to focus on a target for better results, Bhil, who is the archery coach at the Sports Authority of Gujarat, said.

At least six months are needed even to learn the basics of archery, Bhil told PTI.

But the three-day course will at least teach the probationers how to stay calm in challenging situations and deliver the best results with better concentration and focus, he said.

Bhil, who runs his own academy in Naswadi taluka in Gujarat's Chhota Udaipur district to give tribal youth free training, said the authorities approached him after watching a demonstration by him and his students at a village in October.

"I agreed immediately as it was an opportunity for me to train the country's top public servants-in-the making in the basics of the wonderful game," he said.

"Such initiatives will also help promote this purely indigenous sport," he said.