Kushal Dalal, a farmer’s son, brought laurels to India and his home state, Haryana, after clinching a gold medal in archery at the Asian Games in Nagoya.Villagers and relatives celebrated his victory at Dalal’s residence in Siwanka village of Gohana in Sonepat on Wednesday evening.They congratulated Dalal’s grandfather Raj Singh, father Sandeep Dalal, mother Geeta and uncle Pardeep Dalal on his win. The family distributed sweets on the occasion.Gold medallist, from left, India’s Kushal Dalal, Sahil Jadhav and Ganesh Mani Ratnam Thirumuru. Image credit/PTIBorn on January 23, 2005, Kushal began practising archery at the age of 9-10. He has won a total of 26 medals, including 14 gold, eight silver and four bronze medals, in team and individual events at national and international archery tournaments so far.Elated over her son’s victory, Geeta Dalal, who is an accountant in the Market Committee Department, said, “Initially, we thought he should play wrestling or kabaddi, as wrestling is a game that is played the most in villages.”She said they had filled out a form for boxing at Rajiv Gandhi Stadium. However, when she took him to the stadium, he refused to play, saying he could not hit anyone.Sandeep Dalal, Kushal’s father, who is a farmer in the village, said Kushal had brought laurels not only to the family but to the entire country. Apart from being good at his sport, Kushal is also good in studies and graduated in the non-medical stream of science, his father said.“Archery is a game of the mind, due to which his studies are also not disturbed and the game also went well,” he added.“He began playing at the age of 9-10 years. He started going to the ground in Rohtak and initially took up racing there. After some time, he started practising wrestling at an akhara in Delhi, but the coaches said he was good in studies and asked us to choose some other sport for him. That’s why he started playing archery,” Sandeep Dalal told The Tribune.“He is the only son in the family. During the Covid pandemic in 2020, when there was a complete lockdown and everything was shut, we made a ground in our own fields for his practice,” he added.In 2021, Kushal participated in the Youth World Archery Championships held in Poland and won two gold medals, along with a world record, in the team and mixed events.Kushal began his medal journey in 2019 by winning a silver medal at the 65th National School Games held in Andhra Pradesh. In 2022, he won a bronze medal at the 42nd NTPC Junior National event.In 2023, Kushal clinched a gold medal at the Khelo India Games, two silver medals at the 43rd NTPC Junior National Games, one silver medal at the Asia World Cup, and one gold and one silver medal at the Asia Cup World Ranking Tournament.In 2024, he won two gold and one bronze medal at the All India Inter-University Games, one gold and one silver medal at the Asia Cup World Ranking Tournament, and two gold and one bronze medals at the Asian Youth Archery Championships.In 2025, Kushal bagged a silver medal at the 38th National Games, one gold and two silver medals at Asia Cup Leg 2, one gold and one silver medal at Asia Cup Leg 1, and a gold medal at the World Archery Youth Championships held in Canada.