Deepika Kumari: Deserving

It is an award particularly apt for teen archery sensation Deepika Kumari. After all, when Arjuna of the Mahabharata focussed on the bullseye, he never missed his mark.

The Arjuna Award, 2012, may be in 18-year-old Deepika’s hands later this year.

The Archery Association of India (AAI) has recommended before the Union sports ministry Deepika’s name, which is widely being bandied about as India’s brightest Olympic hope.

“It is time Deepika is bestowed with the honour (read Arjuna Award),” AAI secretary general Paresh Nath Mukherjee told The Telegraph, confirming that the outfit had sent the recommendation to the Centre.

Started in 1961, the award comprises a bronze statuette of Arjuna with his bow, Rs 50,000 in cash and a scroll.

From 1981 to 2011, nine archers have got the award named after India’s most fabled archery sensation, the Pandava prince who pierced the eye of a moving fish by seeing its reflection to win home his bride Draupadi.

If Deepika gets the award this year, she will be the second female archer after Dola Banerjee to bag the honour. Dola got the Arjuna Award in 2005.

The others are Krishna Das, Shyam Lal, Limba Ram, Sanjeev Kumar Singh, Tarundeep Rai, Jayanta Talukdar, Mangal Singh Champia and Rahul Banerjee. Rahul, who won the coveted award last year, is also a Tata Archery Academy cadet like Deepika.

Deepika, who is now in Gangtok (Sikkim) undergoing practice sessions at a preparatory camp before her maiden Olympics, bagged the women’s individual recurve gold at World Cup (Stage II) in Antalya, Turkey earlier this month.

The teenager is the current senior national and junior world champion and has slotted home 12 medals — two gold, six silver and four bronze ones — at various international events in 2011 from Ogden to Shanghai.

A proud moment was also reserved for the top-bracket archer from the modest Ratu Chatti village near Ranchi in July last when she qualified for the Olympics by pulling in the team silver at the World Championship held in Turin, Italy.

The Commonwealth Games gold medallist also slotted home individual silver and team gold medals at the 34th National Games in Jharkhand in 2011.