Age is just a number for 14-year-old archer Ety Khatun, who won a couple of team gold medals at the 13th South Asian Games in Nepal yesterday.
On the previous day, the youngest of the 16-member Bangladesh archery team had handed a crushing defeat to top Bhutanese archer Karma, who qualified for the Tokyo Olympics last month.
However, the situation was completely different for the teenager less than three years ago. Ety’s parents were attempting to arrange her marriage at the time, something she did not wish for. Archery provided her with an escape route, as her skills with the bow caught the attention of archery coaches during a talent hunt program in Chuadanga.
Describing Ety as a “wonder girl,” Archery Federation General Secretary Kazi Rajib Uddin Ahmed Chapol said: “We got Ety during a talent hunt when her parents were trying to arrange her marriage. She wanted to continue her studies and was wondering how to run away and avoid the marriage, and the talent hunt program gave her the opportunity.
“Our coaches picked her after seeing how she handled the bow and arrow. Teerandaj Sangsad brought her into their club. She is a wonder girl. Her improvement in such a short time is unimaginable,” Chapol added.
National archery coach Martin Frederick was full of praise for Ety. The German coach said: “She is only 14 years old, but did very good job under pressure. I am happy for her. She worked really hard in the last half year to improve her score.”
Ety refused to comment, saying she would only talk after finishing the women’s recurve final against Bhutanese archer Sonam Dema today. If she wins another gold medal, she will become the first Bangladeshi female athlete to win three golds in a single edition of the SA Games.