"I envisioned myself as a bowman, as an archer, ever since I realised what my star sign was,” says Rashid Masud, one of the top archers of the country.

Twenty-six-year-old Rashid was born on November 24, which makes him a Sagittarian. Sagittarius is Latin for archer. The symbol of the zodiac sign is an arrow with a line through it, representing a bow and arrow.

“I’m not really into astrology — I just fell in love with that symbol,” he admits.

“As a child I played cricket, hockey and football. It was fun, but it was not really what I was looking for. I was looking for something different. Archery is a very different sport,” he says.

But at home his dreams and desires were met with discouragement. “My mother thought that archery was a dangerous sport. Besides, I wasn’t even sure then how to get into archery,” he says.

Rashid Masud is one of the top young archers of the country. Where does he see his bow and arrows taking him?

It was in 2019 when Rashid joined the University of Karachi as a student that he came to discover the archery range there. He was soon pining again for archery.

There was the Archery Club at the university, which he joined promptly. The club itself provided the equipment for beginner level training. So it was not so difficult to join and start. Since the borrowed equipment stayed at the club, no one at home knew about what Rashid was up to initially. Then when he told them, they asked him to be careful. “I am not that irresponsible a person myself. I was very careful. Now that I have my own bow and arrows, I keep them locked up and out of reach of kids at home, since my brothers are married with young children. With time, my family, too, gained some confidence in me,” he says.

Rashid is a student of architecture at the Department of Visual Studies at the university. While not ignoring his studies, regular practice at the archery range at the university has seen him become the top archer in Sindh. In 2021, he also featured in the National Games, where he ranked 10th. This time, in the 34th National Games next month, he is aiming for the top slot.

“I had got very busy with my studies so I couldn’t concentrate as much as I should have on the sport,” he explains. “But I have been working hard and hope for the best this time round,” he adds.

Asked if there were any monetary benefits in archery, Rashid shakes his head. “There are no monetary benefits in archery. In fact it’s the opposite of that. It is just our passion for the sport that drives us all,” he laughs.

“Arrows break often. In fact, if any piece or part of our equipment breaks, it means a wait of four or five months for us. The equipment is all imported. We have to wait for replacements to come from abroad.

“Then, because of the dollar becoming so expensive against the rupee, where a set of a dozen arrows used to cost us 45,000 rupees, it costs us about 85,000 rupees now. Most of us, especially a student like myself, do not have that kind of money. Our coaches help us here by arranging for us to pay in instalments.

We sacrifice a lot for the love of archery,” says Rashid.

Asked if the government can help, Rashid says that archery is still a relatively new sport in Pakistan and there is not much awareness about it here, so the government is not supporting archers at the moment.

“Four years ago, when I started at the university’s archery range, there were only 20 or so archers in the entire country. It was a new thing. It still is. Earlier, archery was only practised in the Pakistan Army. My coach, Hassan Abdullah, was the first one here teaching archery to civilians. He started it in 2011. Today, he is the top archery coach in the country,” says Rashid.

“Of course, the bow and arrow are weapons, they are hunting weapons. But we use them in sports. And doing that we follow all safety standards. Still,” he starts laughing, “my family, especially my mother, keeps telling me that if I ever hurt anyone with an arrow, I better not think of coming back home.”

He says it was such things that also made him slightly scared of archery in the beginning. “Sometimes, you would shoot an arrow and it would bounce. Of course, it didn’t have the velocity to hurt anyone, but still it was enough for my heart to miss a beat,” he says.

“We would also scare other new archers, telling them that if they missed their target the arrow would rebound or return like a boomerang, so they better watch it,” he laughs.

Speaking about newbies, Rashid also remembers how he was pushed into competing by his coach when he was just starting out. “I wasn’t too sure of myself then, so I panicked at first. But it is also true that competing gave me confidence,” he says.

“You know, it is just us who are starting out at the age of 20 or 21 here. Kids abroad start learning archery at the age of six or seven. You get to meet that age archers abroad who already have 14 to 15 years’ experience under their belt,” he says.

“Still, consistent training helps us improve. Our coaches, too, have their own methods of accelerating our progress, so that we come at par with international standards, though we still have a long way to go. There is talent in Pakistan but the sport is still young here,” he points out.

Rashid’s favourite international player is also the winner in archery at the Tokyo Olympics, Mete Gazoz of Turkey.

“Skill and technique is everything in archery. It is not a sport based on strength, which is obvious if you look at the lean Mete Gazoz. To become a good archer you need focus, upper body balance and controlled breathing, and you can develop all these through yoga and meditation.

“Since archery is skill-based we also have mixed category competitions with women in archery. We also have women and girls here who can beat men and boys. There is also no age limit in this sport, although there are Under-18 and Under-21 competitions, too,” he says.

Asked about his plans for the future, Rashid says that he is looking forward to the National Games. “The top archers from there can then look forward to the Asian championships, then the ranking championships, followed by the Archery World Cup, the Commonwealth Games and the Olympics,” he says.

“We really need to go abroad and perform well there, because then that will lead to awareness about this sport here in our country, which would then go a long way in this sport being recognised here and archers being supported,” he says.

“After all, wasn’t it Arshad Nadeem’s fine show at the Olympic Games, the World Athletics and the Commonwealth Games that led to people realising that javelin too is a sport? It can be like that for archery too,” he concludes.

The writer is a member of staff.
She tweets @HasanShazia

Published in Dawn, EOS, April 16th, 2023