Deep inside the sal forests of Jharkhand’s Khunti district, where red earth stains bare feet and evenings fall to the sound of cicadas, lives a boy who learned to aim long before the world learned his name.
Jhongo Pahan, 17, comes from the same land that gave India the legendary Adivasi scholar and hockey champion Jaipal Singh Munda—but it is archery, not hockey, that has become Jhongo’s calling.
Born in Silda village with paraparesis, Jhongo could not walk. He crawled. He watched. He kept to himself. In a place where difference often invites silence or stares, he learned early how discrimination can shrink a childhood.
Yet the forests that hemmed his home also taught him patience and balance—how to wait, how to focus, how to let an arrow fly only when the moment is right.
That quiet resolve carried him all the way to Dubai this month, where he won a silver medal in the 50-metre archery event at the Asian Youth Para Games—a result that startled a continent and transformed a village.
A Late Start, a Relentless Will
Jhongo’s athletic journey began barely two years ago. Coaches Md Danish Ansari and Ashish Kumar, running a voluntary programme to identify talent among those “marginalised within the marginalised,” found him while scouting at the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Residential School—a government-run school opened in 2022 for orphans, survivors of trafficking, children affected by left-wing extremism, and the differently abled.
What they saw was not pity, but power.
“In the hostel,” Kumar recalls, “if a heavy bench needed moving, others hesitated. Jhongo would do it without being asked. We knew then—this boy had grit.”
Archery, the coaches believed, was in the blood of Adivasi communities—older than medals, older than stadiums.
Jhongo took to it with a natural steadiness. He trained first with a wooden or bamboo Indian-round bow worth ₹7,000–8,000, practising until his shoulders burned and his fingers hardened.
Before Dubai, Ansari handed him a recurve bow—the standard for international competition—so he could train properly.
After his medal, the district administration arranged a new recurve bow costing ₹3–3.5 lakh, a tool equal to his ambition.
First Trains, First Podiums
Until 2023, Jhongo had never been to Ranchi. He had never boarded a train. That year, he travelled to Patiala for his first National Para-Archery Championship.
He did not win—but he returned changed. In January this year, he claimed silver at the 6th National Para-Archery Championship in Jaipur. Trials followed in Sonipat. Selection followed. Then Dubai.
There, Jhongo took on Asia’s best. In the mixed team recurve event, he and partner Bhawna won gold.
Individually, he beat archers from Kazakhstan and Thailand before losing a tight final to China’s top-ranked archer—settling for silver, but earning respect.
Even on the podium, the forest stayed with him. He exchanged badges with a Chinese athlete and promised to bring a gift from Jharkhand the next time they met—a small gesture, but one that carried a homeland across borders.
Home, Hope, and a Thatched Roof
Back in Silda, the celebration looked like a madai mela. Neighbours pooled money for his return. Drums sounded. Smiles lingered. Inside his home, reality remained stark. His father, Gusu Jhongo, herds cattle, earning just enough to get by.
His elder brother Baji Jhongo left school to work as a labourer. Rainwater still leaks through their thatched roof.
Jhongo’s mother, Sowag Devi, has applied for assistance under the PM Awas Yojana and Jharkhand’s Abua Awas Yojana, without result so far.
She also awaits benefits under the Maiya Samman Yojana. Disability pension came only after his coaches helped navigate the paperwork.
Yet Jhongo’s spirit is unbroken. Shy by nature, the sport has given him a voice.
A video from a Dubai café—Jhongo strumming a guitar and singing the Nagpuri folk song “Chhota Nagpur Hai Re Heera Nagpur”—went viral. “He looks like he has just started living,” Baji says. “What once set him apart has become his identity.”
The Arrow Ahead
Now an 11th-grade Arts student at a Model School in Khunti, Jhongo trains for the Senior Asian Para Games in Japan in 2026 and the National Para-Archery Championship in Patiala next month.
His days begin early; his practice is meticulous. He listens more than he speaks. When he does speak, it is with hope.
“Abhi khaprail ka ghar hai,” he says softly. “Ek din aayega jab apne paison se achha ghar banaunga.”
(It’s a thatched roof now. One day, I’ll build a good home with my own money.)
In the forests of Khunti, a boy learned to wait. When his moment came, he did not miss.
#JhongoPahan #TribalPride #ParaArchery #Jharkhand #AdivasiAthlete #AsianYouthParaGames #DreamsFromTheForest #SportsInclusion
