Jhano Hansda comes out of the office of superintendent of police. Picture by Bhola Prasad

Jamshedpur, Feb. 21: Instead of a usual day at the range, ace archer Jhano Hansda today took aim at a local Hindi daily for publishing wrong information about her and “tarnishing her image”.

The 32-year-old archer, a police sub-inspector, has decided to move court over a false newspaper report that claimed Jhano had eloped.

Actually, the father of a girl, whose name resembles Jhano’s, had lodged an FIR with the Bistupur police station stating that his daughter eloped with a man. The complainant is a resident of Northern Town in Bistupur.

The Bistupur police confirmed that the said girl’s father has lodged an FIR.

“I’m deeply hurt. I have nothing to do with the report. How did my name and picture figure in the daily on the basis of wrong information? The newspaper should have verified things before going ahead with the report,” Jhano said.

A perturbed Jhano, who found the report in the morning newspaper, was bombarded with calls. Well-wishers, friends and relatives were taken by surprise after reading the news item.

Jhano, a resident of Ranidih, who beat the world record of Jamie Van Natta (US) in the compound section by scoring 1,405 points in the final selection trials for the national squad at the JRD Tata Sports Complex in 2006, met police superintendent Naveen Kumar Singh this morning.

“He has asked me to approach the court,” she said, adding that she had decided to file a defamation suit against the daily.

The archer said she has spoken to state sports minister Bandhu Tirkey, who was shocked to hear about the whole episode.

“I’m a woman. The report has tarnished my image and my family name. Everybody recognises me,” said Jhano, before breaking down before the media.

Apart from other achievements, Jhano, a tribal, claimed bronze in the Asian Circuit Championship in Vietnam (November, 2004) before pocketing silver at the same meet, organised this time at Bangkok in February, 2005.

Jhano broke the record of Valerie Fabre of France in the national ranking archery championship in August, 2005.

She also won silver in the World Cup in June, 2006.

She ranked second in the world, after this feat. But the medal-winning journey did not end here.

Jhano bagged gold in the Asian Championship in Delhi in 2005, before claiming the team silver in the World Cup in Croatia the following year.

Jhano switched over from recurve to compound division in July, 2004.