World No. 1 archer Deepika Kumari has recently been honored with the coveted Padma Shree award a few days back. The Jharkhand girl is constantly making the nation proud with her astonishing achievement in the world of archery over the last couple of years.
The 21-year-old made her entry to the game just five years back, but has already won million hearts with her consistent performance and inspiring persona. She has recently stated to the media that there was a time when she didn’t have even 10 rupees to participate at a sporting event. Deepika’s Journey began from Ratu, a remote village in Ranchi, where she used to practice archery with stones and mangoes in childhood.
The humble background of Deepika Kumari posed her many challenges but she fought back. Her father, an auto driver and mother a nurse, didn’t have enough money to let Deepika pursue her dreams, as the problems of family budget and paucity of funds often came her way but she was determined enough to battle against all odds and finally she succeeded too.
Deepika Kumari’s Achievements at a Glance
- She is only the second Indian after Palton Hansda to win Junior Compound Competition at the 2006 Archery World Cup in Mexico.
- She won the 11th Youth World Archery Championship in 2009.
- Deepika Kumari won World Cup Individual Recurve Gold Medal at Antalya beating Lee Sung-jin in the final.
- She became World No. 1 in Women’s Recurve Archery in London Olympics 2012.
- She accomplished 2 Gold medals in 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.
Does Cricket Overshadow Other Sports in India
It’s a harsh reality that becoming a sportsperson in India except cricket is certainly not a good idea. People idolize the likes of Tendulkar, Gavaskar and Dravid, but nobody wishes to become an athlete. There could be many reasons behind it;
- Government’s complete apathy towards other sports is a matter of large concern.
- Fans’ attention towards other game might have improved over the last few years but still such games need more spectators and crowd to support and cheer for them.
- Media’s role is also questionable in this regard. When an athlete wins at a prestigious event the newspapers publish full page report on it but barring such isolated news the media doesn’t talk much about these athletes like they do about cricketers.
A Cricketer’s statement becomes instantly headlines on electronic and online media but the plight of many former athletes or their close family members doing menial job to earning a living hardly gets any focus. Seriously, it’s high time to help other sports in India also get required attention and spotlight that they truly deserve from each one of us.