12-year-old archer struck by arrow while practicing in Chabua, CM Sonowal assures financial support

Dibrugarh: In a shocking incident, a 12-year-old female archer Shivangi Gohain was injured after being hit by an arrow during a regular training session at the Sports Association of India (SAI) training facility at Chabua in Dibrugarh district on Thursday morning.

The young archer was accidentally stuck on the shoulder by an arrow shot by a fellow archer while practicing.

The injured girl was immediately rushed to a private hospital in Dibrugarh. However, despite several attempts, doctors failed to remove the arrow from her shoulder. Later, she was referred to AIIMS in New Delhi for surgery.

With the arrow still deeply stuck on her shoulder, the girl was flown to New Delhi by an afternoon flight.

Navajyoti Basumatary, secretary of the Archery Association of Assam said, "The unfortunate incident took place at the SAI Extension Centre at Chabua. The young archer got injured during a regular practice session. She is being flown to Delhi. At that time there was no in-charge or caretaker. The in-charge AC Marcy had come for the Khelo India 2010 event in Guwahati."

It may be mentioned that Shivangini, who is the daughter of Birinchi Gohain of Chabua's Deodhai village has been practicing archery since the age of nine and had participated in plenty of tournaments winning several medals. Recently, she participated in the 65th National School Games Archery Championship organized by the School Games Federation of India (SGFI) at Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh.

Meanwhile, the Chief Minister of Assam Sarbananda Sonowal has assured all kind of help for her. She will be treated at the AIIMS. It was an unfortunate accident and we are praying for her early recovery," Shivangini's father Birinchi Gohain said.

A team of three doctors comprising of Bikash Agarwal, Manish Singh and Prakash Maheswari was entrusted with her initial care at the local Brahmaputra Diagnostics and Hospital. However, after an x-ray report showed that the arrow was within the striking distance of her spinal cord, the decision to shift her to AIIMS was taken.

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