Sanand Mitra
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Men's Archery | ||
| National Championship | ||
.svg.png){kind=icon} | 2005 Trivandrum | |
Sanand Salil Mitra (born May 5, 1983) is the chairman and chief managing director (CMD) of VAYAM Group, an Indian archery pioneer organization. An international archer and twice national gold medallist in archery, he is a state and national awardee with performances in the national archery circuit, since his debut in 2005.
The most feared competitor in the compound archery circuit for his brief archery career (2005–2007),[1] Sanand raised standards in the national archery circuit. A Robotics & Artificial Intelligence major by education and an entrepreneur, Sanand established VAYAM-Visionaries & Entrepreneurs in 2008 to bring Indian archery to international standards through a corporate endeavour. He is the mentor of Archery for Indian Collegiate Athletic Program (ICAP) and will guide the young athletes to improve in the sport.
He joined the Rotary Club of Pune, Kalyaninagar in November 2014 as a member, and is the Director for Community Development (Non-Medical) in 2015-16.
Early career
Sanand was born in Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, and did his schooling at the Rajkumar College, Raipur, a school in the Indian Public Schools Conference that had been reserved for members of the erstwhile royal families, and then from Burgess English School, Bilaspur. He completed his BCA & MCA from IGNOU-Delhi, while simultaneously completing his B.E. (Electronics & Communications) from the Institute of Technology, Bilaspur. He is now pursuing his MBA from IGNOU-Delhi.
While he was waiting for his B-School entrance exam results, in 2005, it has been said that Sanand started archery as a hobby, in a field in Bilaspur. He had no access to any sort of formal training in archery. He practiced his form via downloaded pictures from the dial-up internet connection, from a cyber cafe in Bilaspur. In his usual schedule, he practiced as long as 16–17 hours in the sun, getting up at 5:00 in the morning and shooting indoors, in the college verandah of the SBR College, of which his mother was the principal. In 27 days of shooting and practice, Sanand made his debut on the national archery circuit in the Maharajas College Ground, Ernakulam, Kerala. Winning golds and silvers and breaking national records on his debut, Sanand won the highest medal tally in a single tournament for his state, Chhattisgarh. He had a two-year-long stint in archery and left competitive archery in 2007.
He landed a job in Indian Railways from which he resigned in 2008 to start his own firm, VAYAM-Visionaries & Entrepreneurs, as authorized importers of archery equipment in India, archery range design experts and trainers.
Present life
He is a national record holder, gold-medallist and an internationally ranked archer. He was decorated on several platforms, including the Maharaja Praveerchandra Bhanjadeo Award by Chhattisgarh State, decoration for distinguished performance in Sports, 2005.
He has conducted a series of workshops and lectures on: “Sports Engineering: Design & Dynamics of Sporting Equipment" and "Being a Sportopreneur”, conducted at IITs, IIMs, NITs and universities such as MSU and Baroda. He started VAYAM as a small firm in 2008 and has grown it to its present size.
Mitra is working on High Performance Archery (HPA) in Indian context with his archery training firm "dhanurved", which means the science of the bow, in Sanskrit. He is working on a theoretical model of creating high performance succession order planning for the Indian National Archery team. He is also the civil consultant trainer and sport expert (archery) at the National Defence Academy, Pune.
His company, VAYAM-Visionaries & Entrepreneurs (now VAYAM Groupé), is the distributor for Carbon Express arrows, retailer for Mathews & Mission archery bows. Mitra is the honorary mentor for archery at Lakshya NGO, specializing in Indian Olympic efforts, based in Pune. He was featured in the Small & Medium Entrepreneur magazine in November 2012.
Dhanurved Sports Promotion Foundation
MItra began his sports promotion foundation, Dhanurved Sports Promotion Foundation (DSPF) in 2013. This organisation is the first to come up with its own training centre, in the heart of the city. DSPF launched Dhanurved's High Performance Archery Training Centre in November 2013. The only high-performance centre in Asia, it has a 30-metre outdoor range, with 30 bows provided to the students by the DSPF.
DSPF has two centres. A 30-metre range, in the heart of the city in Bilaspur, and a one-acre facility near the Lohegaon airport in Pune.
Awards and decorations
- Maharaja Praveer Chandra Bhanja Deo Decoration by Chhattisgarh state for outstanding performance in Sports 2005.
- The S.E.C.Railway GM’s Award for excellence in the field of Sports 2005.
- The Award for Excellence in Sports by Rotary International, Chhattisgarh State 2005.
- The S.E.C. Railway GM’s Award for excellence in the field of sports 2006.
- The Award for Excellence in Sports at International Level by Chhattisgarh Yuva Manch, 2006.
- Young Leader’s Award for international representation in the field of Sports by Yuva Nav Shakti, 2006.
- "Entrepreneur of the year 2008", Entrepreneur's Council of Pune.
- A 300-metre stretch of road in Bilaspur, named after him as "Sanand Mitra Marg".
- Sportsman of The Decade Award, Shyam Khel Sammaan, by Dainik Lokmaya, 2011.
References
- ↑ Chhattisgarh State Gazetteer, 2007, p. 179
- ↑ http://punekar.in/site/2008/08/25/sananda-mitra-an-international-archer-sets-his-eyes-on-olympics-2016/
- ↑ http://www.indianexpress.com/news/giving-wings-to-dreams/466033/0
- ↑ http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/targeting-bulls-eye/352844/
- ↑ http://www.hinduonnet.com/2005/04/07/stories/2005040705652000.htm
- ↑ http://www.sportstaronnet.com/tss2810/stories/20050305004208200.htm
- ↑ http://iimrp-enspirit.com/speakers.html