Deepika Kumari: Target set

Jamshedpur, July 17: All she needs to do to taste glory is hit the bullseye at the 11th Youth World Archery Championship and she is a step away from it.

Deepika Kumari, the 15-year-old cadet from Tata Archery Academy (TAA), had made it to the final of recurve women’s individual event at the meet in Ogden (Utah), the US.

Originally from Ranchi, Deepika elbowed fifth seed Miranda Leek of the US 115-104 in the quarter-final and Jeon Hun Young (112-108) of Korea in the semi-final for a meeting with 10th seed Sayana Tsyrempilova from Russia in the final.

The emerging archer, who joined TAA recently, learnt the nuances of the game during her training stint at Seraikela-Kharsawan District Archery Academy.

She soon caught the attention of TAA officials who brought her to Jamshedpur. She represents Steel Plant at the national events.

“Deepika began improving after she joined our academy last year. She is a fast learner and she has great prospects ahead,” said S.K. Mohanty, the secretary of Seraikela-Kharsawan District Archery Academy. He added that they were proud of her achievement in the youth meet.

The TAA archer claimed the maiden senior crown by putting top archers and Olympian Dola Banerjee on the wayside with her supe- rlative show. She won the title after defeating another first-timer Shweta of Chandigarh 102-97 at the 29th sen- ior national championship held at Pune from January 19 to 24. Deepika shocked Dola 101-102 in the quarter-final.

“This win raised her confidence by several notches and she began to think she had it in her to rise to the occasion,” said a TAA official.

Exploits of Deepika notwithstanding at the Ogden championship, India was also in line for four bronze in the individual and team events of cadet recurve men, compound men and women.

Fifth seed Atanu Das and tenth seed Pawan Xalxo playing in junior recurve men’s quarter-finals were eliminated by 13th seed Xing Yu of China (111-113) and second seed Sung Wook Yeong of Korea (108-114) respectively.