Archer Deepika Kumari has emerged as India’s Olympic medal hope. The 18-year-old from Ranchi, one of the finest talents the country has ever produced in this sport, will be hoping to make history.
Deepika’s rise in the archery world has been phenomenal. Since she made an impact on the National scene in 2006 as a 12-year-old, her rise has been nothing but spectacular.
After such a stellar performance this year as well as in 2011, the archery world hails her as one of the favourites at the Olympic Games. A teenager who prefers to talk less and believes in deeds now has the enviable task of carrying the hopes of a billion people.
Good chance
National coach Limba Ram says Deepika has a very good chance of winning a medal in London.
“If you see her journey in the past two years, she has beaten some of the big names in the sport that includes the invincible Koreans. She is fearless, believes in her ability and backs it with authoritative shooting. I am hoping for two medals; one from her and the other from one of our teams,’’ he said.
Twice-Olympian Dola Banerjee feels Deepika is at her best form to excel at the Games. “She is confident and technically well equipped. She is experienced and has done exceedingly well during the run-up to the Olympics. Unlike other international meets, Olympic Games are special. How well she will be able to handle the pressure during the competition will hold the key to her success,’’ Dola said.
Deepika bagged her first international medal in 2009 at Ogden when she became the cadet world champion. She followed it up with the Commonwealth gold medal next year at Delhi which was her first senior level international medal. She continued to dominate her age group as she won the junior world title in 2011 and stunned the world by emerging the world cup champion last year at Istanbul.
This year she won the world cup Stage II gold medal at Antalya.
