Dolly Shivani Cherukuri: 3-year-old champion archer

Dolly Shivani Cherukuri has just set a new national archery record in India — and what’s most incredible is that this Mighty Girl is turning three years old next week! At an archery trial this week, Dolly fired over 70 arrows and scored a total of 388 points, making her the youngest Indian to score more than 200 points at a trial according to the Indian Book of Records.

The young archer from Andhra Pradesh comes from a family of archers. Her father, Cherukuri Satyanarayana, told AFP that “you can’t put too much pressure on children” but explained that she has been introduced to archery from a very young age: “When we came to know that the baby was on her way we decided to mold her as an archer.” He had special arrows made for the toddler out of carbon when she was first learning so they would be light enough for her to handle.

During the trial, Dolly shot 36 arrows from 15 feet (5m) and then 36 more from 21 feet (7m). Gunjan Abrol of the Archery Association of India stated, “We are all very proud of her. We are very impressed.” And, of course, the young Mighty Girl and her family were thrilled at the record-breaking feat, which is also being submitted to the Guinness Book of World Records. As her father declared: “I can’t express in words how happy my family is.”